Colors of Voltron
by Scarlett-Whitecross20
Summary: After the team is ambushed by Zarkon, and their attempt for escape goes terribly wrong, the Paladins of Voltron find themselves stranded and alone on four desolate moons. As Allura and Coran fight to find them, they all soon discover that this mysterious place is where past and future meet. Soon they will learn what has passed before them, and possibly what future is to come.
1. Intro

Rough, hot, rocky ground the color of a faded rose blanketed the desolate planet. The sky held a black, lifeless color; filled with the poisoned breath of the fiery mountain which sat as ruler over the land. With such conditions noninahibital for most creatures, the planet lies quiet with not even a breeze to stir the stillness. The stillness of a lonely planet that lumes drearily to the human eye. All is undisturbed and silent, until suddenly, a mechanical hand slams on the rough ground, fingers digging as far as they can into the ground. The hand tenses and pulls, the prosthetic arm seeming to drag the body of it's master. The hand was soon pulled close to the face of it's master which was frozen in a twisted wince: the expression of long endured pain.

Strange, dark purple veins crawled up from somewhere at the neck and up to the right side of the face, sickly veins which could only be the result of some kind of disease. Part of a white forelock hung damp in front of the brow, sweat beading and sliding down the bridge of the scarred nose. The helmet, half masked in black, kept the lungs safe from the poisonous air outside, the neon blue, glass visor enabling sight. Shiro groaned as he pulled himself across the dry, rocky ground. Again he thrust his hand into the earth, pulling himself farther forward, the only thing he could do to keep going in his present state.

IXXXXXXXXI

A land built of snow and ice. Snow capped mountains rose and fell across the land. The winds of blizzards throwing the snow about, and the freezing temperatures eventually freezing every living thing to death. A figure walked through the deep snow in the midst of the blizzard, the form of the body visible only by the dark gray of the suite beneath the white armor: blue a reappearing color design. The Blue Paladin walked haltingly through the snow, his body shaking as the works of frostbite were settling in. Every step was made with effort, his direction thrown off course with each blow of the wind. His arms clutch each other across his body as he walked on, teeth chattering and his breath visible against the visor of his helm. All he could do was keep his head down and continue on, and hope for shelter, or even the warm release of death. He glanced up against the winds and sharp flakes of snow. A gasp was barely audible above the winds as he stopped in his trek. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. A familiar woman stood far away and barely visible through the blizzard.

"M...mom?" Lance breathed shakily.

IXXXXXXXXI

Green is all one ever sees on this planet. Green plants, green trees. Almost everything is green, which makes it difficult to find your way when every tree looks the same. Many creatures of different kinds lived under and above the branches of the trees, but there was one which didn't belong. Underbrush was kicked violently as someone ran in a mad dash through the trees, then something far more skilled in the silent navigation of the terrain followed, giving only a quick burst of wind to the undergrowth as it chased. The Green Paladin made a plethora of noise as she plundered through the gaps between the trees, the green of her armor the only color that blended with the environment. She couldn't find a way out. She didn't know where she was. The air was thick, and she felt like everything was trying to grab her with long, terrible fingers: in many ways, something was. She couldn't hear it, but she knew she was being chased, hunted: they never left her alone. They always found her. Something moved in the corner of her eye, and glancing in its direction, she knew what it was.

Because of the few gaps between the trees, she could only catch glimpses of the figure to her right. It was easily matching her pace, steadily coming closer, its form getting well past her short height as it drew closer. Pidge tripped and stumbled, but hearing faint footsteps behind her get louder and closer, she put on a burst of speed in panic, a scream escaping her as she felt the wind caused by a missed swipe at her back. She focused forward again, glancing right to see how close the other creature was. It was getting too close for comfort, so she began to try and move left as she ran. She saw another figure to her left, flanking and of the same form as the one on her left. They were herding her like a panicked doe. The only way she could escape was by running forward, for now. Pidge kept running, her brown eyes wide in terror as she searched for a way to lose her predators. A large hole was beginning to become visible in front of her, and the hunters were coming in too fast for her to be able to try and go around. A fleeting thought of jumping the pit came to mind, but the pit was too far to jump. Seeing a short vine dangling down in the near middle gave a steady hope however: her only chance.

Pidge prepared herself for the jump of a lifetime, since with her height she would be just barely at arms reach with the vine. With her current speed, hopefully she would reach it. Pidge was already running as fast as she could, but now she needed to give her all to make this jump. With any luck her pursuers would tumble down the pit in an effort to catch her if she made it. If she herself fell, it'd be certain death at the bottom with her busted jetpack booster out of the question.

IXXXXXXXXI

Rolling dunes of sand stretched for miles in every direction. The scorching heat would cook everything to a crisp in the day, and the freezing temperatures at night could be just as fatal. A hot, tired, and hungry Yellow Paladin shuffled through the sand. It felt like he had walked on and on for days without any food or water, and that was because he had. Hunk desperately wanted to see his friends, to not be so alone. No food or water could replace his friends, despite how good they sounded at the moment. Hunk had never felt so lonely. He came to the top of another dune and began to descend it tiredly. He felt his foot step on something underneath the sand. Something solid (sand was never solid). Hunk froze, dreading what was under the sand. Suddenly, something broke out from beneath him, throwing Hunk through the air and landing him hard on his stomach. When he turned onto his back and sat up, he found that he was face to face with a huge creature, the most notable feature of its body were the two very large, very strong pincers. It gave a loud screech as it snapped them together, deadly eyes fixed on him.

IXXXXXXXXI

A planet looking as if it were made of black soil and as silent as darkness seemed to blend with the outer space around it. It had no blue sky, nor did it have a sun or moon. With no mountains, or water or anything other than flat plains, the planet looked desolate and empty with just a few purple, glowing crystal like rocks dotted here and there. Yet in that emptiness, something was there. Something bearing lighter colors than the black and neon purple. A rare creature, an Altean, lay motionless on the black ground for a moment. She slowly came to with a groan, then pushed herself up to stand slowly. She suddenly noticed that there was a light up ahead, as if on the horizon, but it was closer than that. The Princess of Altea squinted at the bright light, shielding her blue eyes as they adjusted. Her eyes never really adjusted, but she could tell that there was a figure within the bright light, looking a faded gray color. Allura's brow furrowed, bewildered at how something could stand in the midst of the immense light she herself could barely endure. Curious though, she took baby steps forward, completely oblivious that her oxygen levels were dangerously low.

IXXXXXXXXI

Shiro couldn't help but groan in pain as he dragged himself further along the ground, and the weight on his side only added to his efforts. A body was being clutched tightly by Shiro's other arm, the white armor identical to his, but the black designs replaced by the color red. The body was limp as half lay on top of Shiro, the rest dragging behind. If it hadn't been for his Galra implanted arm, Shiro would have never made it this far, and dragging Keith along with him would have been impossible. Keith's head rested on Shiro's chest, and on the left side of his helmet, there was a noticeable crack which traveled all the way to the glass visor for the eyes.

Half of the visor, which would have protected the left eye, was missing in jagged edges. Blood lingered at the left side of Keith's head near his temples, and his damp, black forelock had traces of that blood as well. The helmet was unable to seal the breach in his suite as poisoned air flooded in through the missing half of the visor. His time was slowly running out, and Shiro was in no better condition. They were both a mile out of a long canyon stretching far out behind them, coming out into an open plain.

Shiro again reached out and clawed at the ground, dragging himself and his friend a little farther until he heard a shrieking roar break through the silence of the canyon and plain. At hearing this, Shiro froze, fear and dread easily seen in his eyes. Slowly, as if knowing what the creature was, Shiro looked behind and stared at a specific tunnel that seemed to be mined or dug into the rock of the canyon. A creature emerged from that tunnel, hissing.

Shiro glanced down at Keith, still unconscious, then looked far up ahead. Straight ahead of them, and not too terribly far away, lay the Red Lion. It lay on its side as if it had crashed, not landed. The Black Lion was nowhere to be seen. Shiro began to drag himself and Keith towards the Lion, making double time. Each movement was agony, and the only way Shiro could cope with the pain was by crying out with each struggling pull. The harder he fought, the more pain he felt. Despite the torture, he had to press on. Shiro heard another roar from behind, and he had a feeling the creature was beginning to pursue its prey.

Shiro desperately pressed on, his vision beginning to blur in his tears of pain. Even while he was a mile or two ahead of the creature, it was gaining fast, he could hear its feet pounding into the ground as it ran. Shiro was a few hundred yards from the lion, but he soon realized that he wasn't going to make it though. The creature was gaining too fast, and he would be far too slow to outrun it. He stopped, knowing he would have to face the creature, but he could barely drag himself across the ground, let alone stand. Shiro looked down at Keith.

His friend was still out cold, the poisons of the atmosphere no doubt poisoning him with every breath. Shiro didn't want Keith to be in more danger than he already was, and if Shiro could barely protect himself and barely even stand, how could he possibly hope to protect Keith?! Shiro looked back at the Red Lion, then to Keith, and he then made a decision.

IXXXXXXXXI

Lance looked at the woman with a fading gaze.

"Mom? Is that really you?" He asked aloud.

The woman, who looked just like his mother, seemed to nod and beckon towards him. He began to feel more strength and while in his mind he began running to his mother, his body walked with weak, slowing movements. Lance embraced his mother, and he could feel her arms wrap around him and warm him. Even though his eyes were open, she was quickly fading from sight, her warm embrace leaving him to the cold. Lance shook his head.

"No wait, don't go!" He barely cried, his voice choked by the cold.

His eyes closed tight against a blast of wind smashing him like a wave, and for a minute, all was black and cold. Then, Lance felt a distant warmth, as if a fire had suddenly been lit. He opened his eyes, but saw nothing. He fought to keep them open, but the lids were heavy. As the darkness behind his closing eyes came, Lance began to glimpse something. It was difficult to make out, and as Lance tried to open his eyes to see it better, the image wasn't improving. It was when he finally fell to his knees, his eyes shut tight as if to keep out the cold, that Lance began to see what that distant warmth was. His family, joyous and happy, were in the distance. They began to call to him, and as Lance felt himself drift into a sleep kind of void, he found that their warmth was growing stronger.

"I'm coming…." he breathed softly, weak.

Another hard blast of wind hit against him, bashing him so hard be barely remained upright. He felt so tired, and cold. He wanted his home and family back. He wanted his life back. He wanted to see the familiar smiles of his family. The light and warmth he had glimpsed dulled, and Lance slowly began to fade, shivering, into the dark, cold void beyond this existence.

IXXXXXXXXI

The hole drew closer, as did the hunters. Pidge timed her steps as best she could without missing any, then as the edge came, he jumped with every ounce of her strength. Her hand reached high above her head for the vine, hanging teasingly above her head. She was well aware of the deep, bottomless pit of darkness below her. She had to make it! Pidge held her breath without knowing it, until the tips of her fingers touched the vine, and she fell. She inwardly cursed her short arms, for the vine had been just out of her reach. As the darkness of the pit rushed up towards her, Pidge felt the pit in her own stomach be left behind. The darkness engulfed her, her last moments of light fading fast as she was falling, screaming, down the pit. What waited for her at the bottom had to be death: whatever form it took. As she fell in the darkness, terror gripped and twisted her heart, causing her arms to flail wildly as if to catch herself: reaching out for any way of escape. Her last thoughts would be of terror, and the father and brother she had failed to find: the universe that just might cease to exist without her

IXXXXXXXXI

Hunk tried to use his bayard against the giant scorpion, but it was too quick and strong and he was too slow and weak. Before Hunk knew it, he was caught in one of the scorpion's pincers. It held onto him with an iron grip and reared its tail back for the killing blow. Hunk squirmed and tried to free himself, but nothing he did could help. In his weakened state, all he could do was squirm and stare at his coming end.

IXXXXXXXXI

Shiro carefully set Keith down on the ground, his head resting on Shiro's arm for a moment. Shiro then, as quickly as he could, took off Keith's helmet and rested his now unprotected head gently on the ground. Keith had just been starting to come to, giving weak coughs as his consciousness began to register the poor condition of his lungs. There was no time to wait though. Shiro set Keith's helmet aside and then began to take off his own. Once his own helmet was off, Shiro gently and carefully slipped it over Keith's head. Keith's chest rise had been somewhat shallow, the fumes in the air making it difficult to inhale any oxygen and make breathing efficiency good. Now his chest rose and fell a little more easily (minus the jerks it made from the coughs), not struggling to find the oxygen thanks to the clear air supply of the helmet. He looked at Keith for a moment, still holding his head; Keith's closed eyes were flinching, his coughs becoming a little stronger though even with the helmet.

Shiro gently set Keith's head down and began to drag himself away from the Red Paladin, trying to draw the creature's attention away from Keith with his movement. Keith turned his head a little, his eyes beginning to open slowly. He could hear the creature give another roar as it came closer, and he struggled to get a visual of where it was. The creature was gaining, only a few yards away...and it was headed for Shiro, who was crawling away on his own.

"Shiro!..." Keith barely managed to cry, weakly, choking and coughing harder now at the damage the poisoned air had done to his lungs.

Shiro was much faster without the extra weight, using both his arms to drag himself across the ground. Shiro heard Keith coughing and glancing back he saw that Keith was making an effort to get up, but it would be too late. Shiro activated his Galran hand, and it glowed bright as he continued to draw the creature's attention away from Keith. He had one shot, and that was it, so he would have to make it count. Shiro continued to drag himself painfully across the ground, listening to how close the creature was getting and waiting for the right moment to defend himself.

"Shiro...Hold on…!" Keith half shouted, breaking into a fit of hard coughs as he did.

Shiro was too weak to say anything, but he pressed on, the creature seconds from reaching him.

IXXXXXXXXI

Allura walked towards the bright light, her eyes finally beginning to adjust.

"Coran," she said into the com in her helm, breathless, "I can see something…."

"Princess! You must get back to the ship! You only have a few more dobashes before your oxygen is all gone!" Coran replied in panic, but Allura was too interested in what she was seeing to take much heed (and the lack of oxygen was making it hard for her to think properly).

She squinted, finally seeing the shape of what she saw and a little bit of the actual color. She heard a deep, gurgling noise, almost like a growl, but softer and not menacing. She gasped as she realized it was something she had heard before.

"Coran," Allura breathed, taking a guess at what the thing was, "I think…. I think its… a lion…."

IXXXXXXXXI

"SHIRO!" Keith shouted, voice raspy, at the top of his lungs as Shiro heard the creature get too close.

Shiro turned over onto his back to face the creature, his Galran hand burning bright. The creature was already lunging for Shiro, mouth gaping open and teeth seeming to reach out for him: eager to sink themselves in to the gums. Shiro raised his arm to defend himself, the creature far closer than he could have imagined. All he could see was the ink black color of its teeth and throat, a darkness he would find himself in permanently if there was nothing after death. The teeth came, his arm was raised in defense but possibly not strong enough to hold firm, then….

The Colors of Voltron

Coming Soon

**Hello everyone and welcome!! Crazy thing but this greaser has kinda been out awhile. My friend FlickaLightBeast(whom I've worked alongside in creating this story as a whole) originally posted this on _her _storyboard. But due to some changes being made, we've decided to split the posting she will post on Friday every two weeks on her profile on WattPad. While I will post, on the same days, here on fanfic. **

**Now as you can see this story delves into the Paladins in these strange lands. I won't go into a lot of detail due to spoilers and.. I wanna let the story.. tell itself(so to speak). But anyway as I mentioned before this was a team effort. Almost a _year_ in the making crazy, as that sounds. Countless hours.. multiple plotpoints added and subtracted.. a constantly evolving storyline which continues to somewhat change as we go. **

**But overall I hope you will enjoy the new elements we have brought to this story. Also to clarify this story takes place with in the gap between Space Mall and Blade of Marmora in season two of the show. The written content is a combination of both our ideas and Flicka's vibrant writing style. But with out further ado.. tomorrow will be the official launch(sorry about posting this so late!!), atatrtibg this story of with the first chapter. I don't know exactly due to a busy day.. but mind you I will find the time!! Even if it's a late time! Enjoy this little snippet of what is yet to come! And I will see you tomorrow! Thx!!!**


	2. The Weapon

The Colors of Voltron

Chapter One

The Weapon

"In the far reaches of space, there lives a legend which has lasted through the ages. A legend that began long ago, and still lives to this day. The legend of Voltron, a powerful warrior born time and time again to defeat the darkness of evil. Many have sot after Voltron, the promise of its power to great to refuse. The emperor of the Galra nation, Emperor Zarkon, has ruled half of the known universe under his iron fist for generations, searching for the power of Voltron, like many have before him, with a dark greed. With his thirst for power having long corrupted his heart, nothing else will come parallel to his need. With an empire of Galra, powerful druids and most of all, the witch Haggar at his command, he pursues Voltron with a terrible obsession.'

"The five Paladins of Voltron, still young and not fully fledged in themselves or their duties as paladins, must face their greatest foe alone. With all of what Zarkon processes, it truly is a wonder that they have survived this long. What is it that let them come this far? Is it a miracle? The protection of a team or teamwork? Or is it perhaps something more? Something beyond a single individual? Something that weaves the fabric of one's life with those of others to create the masterpiece of a remarkable story. Something that will allow a great and terrible future to occur, but with someone destined to intervene. Something that is neutral, neither good nor bad, which rules the realities of the universe.'

"Is it all just an accident or coincidence which brings people together? Is it luck? Is it they themselves who find each other, or does something, neither good nor bad, do it for them? Good things as well as bad can bring people together, sometimes both even work hand and hand to bring about the same event and bring together the same people. This powerful, neutral force is what brought Zarkon to his power. What allowed him to live this long. It is also what brought the current five Paladins of Voltron together to fight against him. It is what pushes their story onward, and guides their path to the destination. The hand that turns every page to end one chapter and let the next begin.'

"Perhaps you know not of what I speak, or perhaps you have a guess or idea of what this force could be. You will have to wait and see I'm afraid, for the answer will be revealed in this story. You, as well as I, will have to watch this story within a story unfold, and listen carefully for the answer of this question: what is this neutral force which binds the universe together? In case you're wondering, it's not destiny, because destiny is a word that belongs to a person and their own personal journey.'

"No, this is something that goes far beyond the boundaries of a single life and the events within it. Listen carefully, and perhaps you will figure it out as we both watch this story come alive. I can tell you already where it begins, and I'll be leaving you within it shortly. I would give you an introduction as to who I am, but seeing as I will appear in this story and be given one eventually, I won't, because I'm not in the story yet. To you, and for now, I'm just a narrator. A character yet to have a role until my time has come. So to set you forth, I can already inform you that this story starts within the walls of a Galra ship, and with Emperor Zarkon's witch being the first face you'll see as you begin to witness this great story, within an even greater one..."

IXXXXXXXXI

The witch called Hagar glided through the halls of Emperor Zarkon's ship. The Galra had no true home really. Just planets the empire had conquered and ships in space. Their homeplanet had been destroyed long ago, but Hagar rarely thought of any of that now. She was more focused on her work and how it could benefit the empire or her emperor. She was in fact on her way to see him now. When finally she found Zarkon, he was standing in front of a broad window, silent. He could sense her the moment she was in the room, but spoke to her only when she was at his side.

"What is it?" Zarkon asked of her, knowing she never came to him without reason.

"It's ready." Hagar replied, voice quiet and slightly raspy, as it always was.

"The weapon." Zarkon remarked in dark anticipation.

"Indeed. Both primary functions have worked accordingly. All we need is the target." Hagar replied.

"Very well." Zarkon decided. "Prepare the druids and a fleet of my ships to be ready to move. I will be there shortly to locate the Black Lion."

"Yes, your lordship." Hagar complied with a bow, and she turned and glidded away, leaving her emperor to prepare her druids for execution of the plan.

Zarkon soon stood in the center of the ritual circle, his eyes, with no pupils to give away where he was looking, appearing to stare blankly ahead with a naturally menacing gaze. The druids around him waited for his command, as did Hagar.

"Begin the ritual." Zarkon ordered when he was ready.

In response, Hagar raised her pale, bony hand and focused her dark power. Her druids did the same. Because the current Black Paladin had severely increased his bond with the Black Lion, Zarkon found it slightly difficult to find the Black Lion, but he would find it. He was determined to do so.

Hagar did her part, watching her emperor as he did his. She felt the power escalate as he searched, using the energy she and her druids provided to him to extend his reach. When finally the ritual had finished, a few of the druids letting out a sigh of slight relief, Zarkon's eyes seemed to gleam ever so slightly as he had found his prize.

"I have the coordinates of where we will find the Black Lion." The emperor stated, looking out into space as if to not lose sight of the right directing. "Send the weapon and prepare a fleet to intercept at my command. I will be there shortly to give the coordinates."

"Yes, sir." Hagar replied, soon leaving the emperor to carry out his orders.

Even though he rarely had any kind of expression, Zarkon was clearly determined to take his prize. Since, once again, the current Black Paladin had strengthened his bond with the Black Lion, this would most likely be the last time he would be able to locate it. With the weapon soon to be sent on it's way, he was quite sure that destiny was on his side, since it wouldn't dare to be anywhere else.

IXXXXXXXXI

"Got it!" Pidge announced to the room.

"Aw yeah!" Lance exclaimed enthusiastically. "At first I thought all that searching in the coin pool at the space mall was a waste of time to buy this thing, but it works!"

"Of course it does," Pidge replied, pride in her tone, "I modified it. With a little help."

She gave Hunk a grateful look to which he returned light-heartedly.

"It was a team effort." Hunk remarked humbly with a shrug of his shoulders. "Team Punk effort!"

He gave Pidge a wink as she winked back, and they shared a quick high-five as Lance was eager to start playing. Pidge, Lance, and Hunk had all set up their new video game (which they had gotten from the space mall they had just been to in order to get teladove lenses) in the lounge and on the floor in the center of the rounded couches. The game was starting just as Keith and Coran strolled into the room in mid conversation.

"I'm just saying," Keith went on to say in defense to Coran, "that the mall seemed pretty low key and, 'space pirate' free. The hole outfits thing didn't seem necessary."

Coran wrinkled his nose.

"I wouldn't be so sure young paladin," he replied, "they can be quite-"

"Sneaky." Keith beat him to the word as if knowing that sentence by heart. "I know. You've told me. Multiple times."

Keith's attention (as well as Coran's) was then drawn to his fellow paladins and the weird set up they had going on.

"What, are you guys doing?" Keith asked, thinking it was probably something not very important but slightly curious.

"Playing a video game we bought at the mall." Pidge replied simply, very focused on the opening credits of the game now displaying on the screen.

"It's how we got the free Kaltenecker!" Lance added.

"You should try playing with us, Keith." Hunk suggested, and he then suddenly looked back at Keith with a teasing grin. "Unless you don't play well with others."

Lance tried to hide his laugh, but it escaped through his nose in a kind of short lived snort. Keith made an annoyed face which Hunk only chuckled light-heartedly at.

While that was happening in the break room, Shiro meanwhile was walking through the castle halls, thinking about where the Black Lion had taken him while he was increasing his bond with it. He had realized that there was more to the Galra than he thought by the lion's enlightenment. He wondered if there was anyone he could talk to in order to learn more about them. Perhaps Coran? To his luck though, Allura appeared around the corner, walking in the same direction Shiro was heading.

"Oh, Princess!" Shiro said, catching up to her as she looked back at him.

"Oh, hello Shiro," Allura greeted as he came to her side, "the castle is almost ready to begin the voyage to the Blade of Marmora headquarters. We should be ready in about a few doboshes."

"That's good to hear." Shiro said affably. "I was actually wondering if I could talk to you about something."

"Of course." Allura complied lightly, and she offered for them to walk down the hall.

"During the time when I was strengthening my bond with the Black Lion," Shiro began as they walked, "it showed me it's home. Did your father ever tell you where it came from?"

Shiro was rather surprised to see Allura give an uncharacteristic frown. She stopped walking a minute and sighed rather deeply, as if she would rather not talk about the topic but forced herself to do so anyway.

"The Black Lion was originally made and constructed from a mysterious comet that landed on Zarkon's homeplanet. Altean engineers, along with my father, assembled not just the Black Lion, but all five of the lions from a part of that comet, each built with extraordinary capabilities."

Shiro thought for a moment as they stood there.

"I wonder where he got the idea to build the comet into huge, mechanical lions." he wondered. "Did he plan on them transforming into one huge robot from the beginning?"

"I honestly don't know," Allura said with a shrug, "King Alfor never really told anyone why he made the comet into lions, at least not that I know of. There was never anything in Altean culture which was influenced greatly by lions or beasts of the same likeness. My father soon found out after constructing the lions however that they either had, or had grown, a consciousness of their own."

"Do you think there could be more comets like the one used to create the lions out there?" Shiro wondered curiously as they began to walk on.

"I'm not sure," Allura answered as they now stood outside the doors of the breakroom, "no one knows from where the comet came from. But if there are any more, let us hope Zarkon doesn't find them and use them."

Shiro agreed, but both his attention and Allura's were drawn to what was behind the door where they now stood. They could both hear a rather loud combination of voices coming from inside, and were both a little confused at what was going on. When the doors opened and they walked inside, the scene in the lounge caught both off guard but made them both soon smile in finding it all rather funny.

In the middle of the round couches and on the floor was a cluster of wires hooked up to a screen and controllers. Holding three of the controllers were Lance, Pidge, and funny enough, Keith (that was what made Shiro smile the most at and find funny). The three of them were engrossed in the battle on the screen as Hunk watched and cheered and Coran looked on in growing fascination and excitement.

"Where's attack?!" Keith asked, still figuring out the controls.

"'X' is attack!" Pidge told him.

"He's got just a few more hit points left!" Lance exclaimed, getting excited.

"Ah! I'm down!" Pidge cried, panicked. "Keith, you have a revival poison! Revive me with your revival poison! Quick!"

"How do you do that?!" Keith responded, flustered.

"Hurry up guys, I can't take this boss alone!" Lance chimed in.

"You go over to the person who's down and you'll see a button prompt!" Hunk answered Keith's question.

Allura and Shiro both peeked over Lance, Keith and Pidge's heads to watch. With triumphant exclamations, they defeated the boss and passed the level, Pidge and Lance soon throwing their arms up in the air in their excitement.

"That was awesome!" Lance said.

"I have to admit, that was, kinda fun." Keith admitted with a smile.

Shiro and Allura gave each other small smirks at the scene, and began to watch the cutscene with some interest. Their attention was then brought to high alert when the castle lights flashed a warning red and the alarm sounded.

"What's happening?!" Pidge asked.

"I'm not sure," Allura answered, "let's get to the bridge and find out!"

Everyone followed the princess to the bridge of the castle, running quickly through the halls until they were at the doors of the bridge room. When they got there, they hovered around as Allura pulled up on screen what was the cause of the alerts.

"What, is that?" Keith asked as the object appeared on screen.

Out there in space, something was floating limp and alone not far in front of the castle. Something very small. It was definitely no small ship or pod, and as Allura zoomed the castle cameras in closer on it, limbs could be identified as well as a head and torso.

"Is it, a person?" Pidge asked.

"Run a quick scan to see what it is." Shiro instructed, glancing to Allura.

Allura ran a scan of the thing outside the castle in space, reading what the holo-screen was telling her.

"I'm picking up life signs, very small ones." She informed them, slight worry in her tone at the creature's condition.

"Let's bring it aboard for further examination." Shiro decided.

At the press of a button, adrone was soon sent to bring the creature to the castle, and everyone headed to the airlock where the drone would soon end up with the creature with it.

IXXXXXXXXI

"What is it?" Keith asked as they all stood around the creature as it lay on the floor.

Pidge scanned it, observing it's life signs closely. The creature, while it did have arms and legs, something about it made it seem more of a creature rather than a person. The features of its face and body suggested an animal of some kind rather than an actual person It was unresponsive. It's face had strange, jagged purple lines, almost like veins, running along it's skin. They didn't engulf the creature's features though, and there were only about four or five veins, but they looked bad. The Paladins as well as Coran and Allura all stood around it.

"Is it breathing?" Shiro asked, looking at it closely from where he stood and not seeing the typical signs of active lungs.

Keith knelt down and brought his hand near the creature's nostrils and mouth to see if he could feel warm breath coming from either of them.

"I can't feel it breathing." He said aloud to the group. "It has to be dead."

"But it can't be." Pidge said. "There's a pulse."

Pidge rechecked with her instrument to see if that was correct. Her eyebrow raised and then furrowed suddenly in a confused look no one really knew her for.

"What is it?" Keith asked, looking up at her and noticing her look.

"It's a really strange pulse, now that I think about it. It's way too small for a creature of this size. Either that or it's very weak." Pidge explained.

Looking back down to the creature, Keith, without really taking heed to the purple veins cracking along the creature's face which could suggest some kind of disease, placed two fingers to its neck to feel for a pulse. Rather than a pulse, he felt a wet, cold liquid on the tips of his fingers, and he instinctively pulled his hand back to look in sudden interest. His pointing and middle finger had a strange, purple liquid on their tips which wasn't quite dry yet, and it was cold. Interested in where this liquid came from though, Keith turned the creature's stiff head to get a better look at the side of its neck.

There, nearly a miss to a vein in the neck, were two small puncture wounds no more than an inch apart. The liquid Keith's fingers had caught, was blood from those punctures, and now that the neck was a little more exposed to the light, Keith could also see how all the purple veins seemed to sprout from those two wounds.

"I think it was bit by something." He voiced, gesturing to where he had been looking.

"Wow!" Pidge exclaimed, fascinated as she came closer and looked where Keith was gesturing. "I think your right. I wonder what attacked this thing and possibly killed it."

"Wait a tick," Lance spoke up, sceptical, "I thought you just said this thing had a pulse? And why was it just floating out in space?"

"I think those are good questions to ask." Shiro's decisive voice caused everyone to look his way. "I think we need to-"

His words halted in mid sentence when he and everyone else began to hear something very faint and slightly eerie. The sound of a muffled hiss barely rose in the air, and Keith and Pidge both could hear where it came from better than everyone else.

"It's coming from here." Keith exclaimed in rousing alarm, gesturing to the creature.

Everyone watched the creature as the hissing grew louder, sounding as if it came from deep inside its throat. Keith and Pidge began to back up, feeling a strange danger beginning to rise concerning this "dead" creature. Then, to everyone's sudden horror and disgust, something began to push the creature's mouth open from the inside as it came out. First, there was just a small, narrow head, then a very long neck which turned out to be the body and tail. A slimy, purple colored snake soon sat in a coil of it's own body on the creature's chest, raising it's head to look around the room, giving a hiss as it flicked its tongue. Now everyone took a step back.

"Is that the life signal you were picking up Pidge?" Shiro asked, a shiver running down his spine.

Pidge mildly checked her instrument to make sure her assumption was correct.

"Yep." She squeaked nervously, the life signal now stronger without the walls of the body to muffle it. "Why did it have to be a snake?!"

It was then that the purple snake suddenly reared its head back a little as it looked at Pidge with terrible, yellow eyes, preparing to attack. Shiro saw what it was planning and yanked Pidge towards himself and out of the way just in time for the snake to miss its target as it pushed itself forward and lunged terribly through the air. It's body landed on the floor with a light wet sound, like a wet rag being flopped on hard ground. It then curled up again to regain itself in another coil, raising its head once again and hissing. Hunk and Pidge scurried away from it in the same panic, Pidge in mad terror half jumping onto Hunk's back to get off the floor, having no bayard to protect herself with.

"Careful!" Shiro caustioned his team and the Alteans. "We don't know for sure what will happen if it bites one of us."

"The dead thing on the floor isn't proof enough?!" Lance asked, almost screaming.

The snake during that time had picked another target to attack. Allura. It slithered quickly towards her, making Allura scream in panicked fright as it came closer, hissing and showing its fangs.

"Oh no you don't!" Lance threatened as he put himself between the snake and Allura.

With good timing, Lance brought up the boot of his foot and kicked the snake right in the lower jaw before it got close enough to bite. After being kicked straight up into the air and backward, the snake flopped on the floor, dazed for a second or two. It was in those seconds when the snake was vulnerable and unaware of its surroundings that Shiro's right, burning hot fist came crashing down on the snake from behind. The snake's small head was crushed beneath the strength of Shiro's fist, sizzling as it was being cooked and burned by the hot metal. The body was still, even after Shiro's hand had lifted to reveal a nasty mess of what was once the snake's head. Typically, as many would know, a snake's body would thrash about a minute before going completely still once its head was severed from its body: this one's body didn't.

Shiro shook his hand a little in the hopes to flick off any snake parts that had stuck to the metal. Pidge and Hunk sighed in relief (Pidge climbing down off Hunk), as did everyone else.

"You alright Allura?" Lance asked the princess in concern, still standing guard in front of her.

"Yes." Allura answered, still a little shook from both the snake, and Lance's act of protection. "Thank you."

Lance nodded and stepped aside a little so he wasn't blocking her view.

"What was that?!" He asked. "Some kind of space snake?"

"Maybe we can take it to the lab for further study." Allura commented.

Pidge shivered.

"There's no way I'm getting anywhere near that thing." She stated.

"Would it be better to get rid of it then?" Shiro asked.

"If we get rid of it," Keith respectfully countered, "we won't know anything about it."

"I can see your point." Shiro had to agree with a shrug. "But it should be your call Pidge. You're the one who'll be doing the research."

Everyone's eyes turned to Pidge. She looked at the dead snake suspiciously as well as nervously, with a small hint of curiosity, then she sighed.

"I'll take a quick look I guess." She said bravely, pushing through her snake-phobia.

"I can carry it for you if you like." Shiro offered, immune to the fear of snakes.

"And I'll go with you." Hunk added, bravely swallowing.

"That," Pidge said, as if to politely turn them down but decided against it, "would be great. Thanks."

"What about the body?" Keith asked, looking to the dead creature on the floor.

"It will probably be good to examine it as well." Allura decided. "We can come back for it once we get something to help us safely carry it to the infirmary."

With that, Shiro stooped down and picked up the snake in his right hand. Pidge went out first, Hunk following, then Shiro, Allura, Lance, Coran, and then Keith, who gave one last look to the dead creature before he exited. The airlock was quiet, with the dead creature unmoving and cold, that is until something hissed inside of it, the noise muffled and faint. Then, the creature's mouth opened a little as a head pushed itself through, a long body following and soon coiling on the creature's chest like its companion had done. The snake, nearly identical to the one which had come before it, looked around the room briefly before it then slither towards the open door (they hadn't bothered in shutting it), keeping close to the walls and shadows as its chameleon-like skin blended to all around it, the clear colored slim from the creature's inerds leaving a trail behind it on the floor as it slithered along.

**Well here's the first chapter! Can't wait to here your thoughts on it!! Thx!!**


	3. A Way Of Escape

Chapter Two

A Way Of Escape

After a brief decontamination which everyone was required to go through for safety (and after getting the dead creature to where Pidge and Hunk could study it safely in the infirmary), everyone went around to their own business. Pidge and Hunk did a dissection of the snake (to Pidge's both disgust and interest) while the rest of the team went to the bridge. The Castle of Lions was soon just about ready to launch for the coordinates leading to the Blade of Marmora base after another few minutes of last preparation. Pidge and Hunk were soon requested to be up at the bridge before launching so they'd all be together on the bridge.

"How was your snake study, Pidge?" Lance asked.

Pidge just groaned a little.

"I hate snakes." She admitted honestly. "But, I did find a few interesting things. Turns out that the snake doesn't need air to breathe, which makes sense since it was not only in space but inside the innards of that creature we found." She took a moment to release a disgusted shudder before going on. " I couldn't find out much about the creature, other than its not an intelligent species like humans or alteans." She then added, " I did find that the snake's skin has a component with chameleon like properties though."

"Were you able to study the venom from the snake?" Allura asked.

"I was just about to get to that when we were called up." Pidge replied with a shrug. "I don't really know how I will though since Shiro kinda crushed its skull."

"Sorry." Shiro apologized from his spot in the room.

"No, it's alright." Pidge replied nonchalantly. "I'm kinda glad I can breathe without wanting to barf now."

"Why do you hate snakes anyway?" Lance asked with a tone that relayed mild interest.

"Their just creepy." Pidge answered in slight annoyance. "Bugs I can handle, but anything that moves without legs is just wrong."

"The ship is just about ready to launch Princess." Coran pipped up from his control panel, drawing everyone's attention.

Allura summoned the two pillars to her hands from the floor, standing in the center of the room and below the telodov.

"Proceed when ready." she told Coran.

With the paladins in their seats, and the ship ready, Coran began the process for a wormhole jump.

IXXXXXXXXI

The snake slithered along, keeping close to the corners of the halls and staying hidden. It found its way to a furnace vent, then after prying it open with its strong, sharp fangs, it slithered inside, the slim on its underbelly nearly all wiped off by now. It slithered on, taking certain turns as if making its way to a certain destination.

IXXXXXXXXI

Allura closed her eyes and summoned the power within her, as the Paladins all waited for the magical wormhole entrance to appear. None of them knew that above them, a ceiling shaft was being quietly pulled aside, a long creature soon moving out from the opening. The snake stretched up and out from the shaft, turned itself so it's belly touched the ceiling, the strong muscles of its body enabling it to perform such a difficult task without the advantages of arms or legs. The snake's body seemed to cling to the ceiling as it slithered, deathly silent as it steadily grew closer towards the blue crystal. It quietly reached the crystal in seconds, and it was when Allura created the wormhole for the castle and they were just about to proceed that the snake reared its head and striked, though not at anyone down below. It dug it's hard fangs into the crystal like butter, and a strange liquid began to ooze from the tips like venom. Within seconds, the crystal dimmed, the castle lights flickering and mimicking its state, then went dark. The wormhole flickered, then suddenly died.

Allura was now completely distracted as she looked around, noticing the light of the crystal above her was now gone.

"Uh Coran, what just happened?" Lance asked suspiciously.

"I don't know," Coran responded, "I'm trying to figure that out now."

Suddenly, a dangerous hiss sounded in the air. Pidge instantly froze and tensed in her seat. Hunk just froze, looking around nervously with his eyes as he didn't dare to move. Lance, Keith and Shiro were both looking around for the creature that had made the hiss, but Keith, upon his sharp ears hearing it more definedly, looked up.

"Up there! The snake!" He called in alarm.

Everyone looked up, sharing an unbelieving gasp. The snake peeled back its camouflage to reveal itself, it's yellow eyes peeked through the darkness around it. It hissed horribly, and was now poised on the tip of the crystal (right above Allura).

"Another one?!" Pidge nearly screamed in terror, feeling the instinct to run and hide but forcing her legs to stand still.

No one replied. They were all too focused on the snake. It was beginning to coil its body a little more now, like how a cat winds up when ready to pounce. Shiro and Keith both saw how its terrible, glowing eyes stared down at Allura, its mouth open and tongue flickering in and out: preparing to attack. Shiro and Keith both were up out of their seats in a moment of shared urgency to come to Allura's aid as the snake suddenly launched itself towards the princess down below. That moment was slowed for Allura as she saw the wide open mouth, the poised fangs and even the throat of the snake as it flew for her. She brought her arms up to protect her face, her reflexes causing her to shut her eyes and tense her body in preparing to feel the horrible fangs dig into her forearm. That moment never came though.

Shiro and Keith had gotten to Allura before the snake did. In a moment of unsaid words, the two worked together to protect the princess and each other. Keith jumped for Allura, grabbing her in his arms and carrying her with him to the ground and out of the way. He jumped so his back was to the snake, his own body shielding Allura but becoming the new target. Before Keith and Allura had even hit the ground yet, Shiro was already between them and the snake, providing Keith with cover but becoming a target as well. Shiro did however have the sense and time to raise his Galran arm to block the snake from reaching his face. Despite their quick response to the threat, the snake's reaction time was far more quick.

Even while Shiro had raised his arm to block the snake, and there were inches between him and the terrible serpent, the snake was never blocked. While in mid air, and having sharp reflexes of its own, the snake raised its head a little and readjusted its body just enough to where it was able to avoid hitting right into the metal arm. Instead, it pulled up over the forearm and proceeded to quickly curl itself around Shiro's upper arm, then followed the arm to his shoulder and was soon wrapping itself around his neck in no more than a second.

In the same moment of the snake coiling itself around the Black Paladin's neck, Keith hit the ground hard on his shoulder, holding Allura in his arms. He was instantly getting up on his feet though to get a visual on the snake. He didn't see it on the ground where he had expected it to have landed after colliding with Shiro's arm, but then seeing Shiro stagger and hearing his gag made Keith realize in chilled terror where the snake had somehow ended up. He saw the dark coils of the snake's body wrapped around Shiro's throat like a terrible, constricting collar. Shiro was already brought down to one knee by the time Keith was by his side, struggling for air as the strong coils were cutting off the soft windpipe within the neck, bringing the victim quickly to a cold death. Keith tried to look for a way to get the snake off, since cutting the snake through would risk hurting Shiro, but it was difficult to find the head since it blended in with the body so well.

Even as Keith looked though, Shiro was grabbing at the snake and trying to weaken it somehow. Pulling wasn't working, and it almost made things worse. Shiro was already feeling himself begin to lose consciousness as the corners of his sight were beginning to darken and blur. As he felt the coils desperately, sounds fading and blending together, he suddenly felt the hard and small skull of the snake rather than the softer feel of its coils in his right hand. Upon feeling it, he grabbed it and made the prosthetic metal burn against the creature's skin. Upon feeling pain, the snake almost instantly recoiled it's head, and it was enough for Keith to see it and then grab hold of it under and behind the jaw (the only safe place to grab a snake). Shiro was near blackout point now, and as Keith pulled the snake's head away from its body he drew his knife from behind his back and sliced through the snake's neck; decapitating it.

The snake's head flopped to the floor with a discussing thud, and the coils around Shiro's neck loosened enough for Keith to pull them off. Once off, the coils flopped to the floor near the head, thrashing about. Shiro gasped in a large breath of air, coughing heavily a minute but ultimately breathing. He took a moment to regain himself, and upon feeling the thrashing tail of the snake hit against his boot, he stood quickly and got away from severed snake in disgust.

"Are you alright?" Keith asked him, concerned.

"Yeah." Shiro replied with a nod, voice raspy. "Thanks."

As Shiro coughed a little more, Keith looked to Allura, his eye communicating the same question.

"I'm alright." She quickly told him, breathless, having already begun to push herself up. "Thank you. It seems I've been saved twice today."

Pidge peeked out at the snake from behind Hunk, as if checking to see if the snake was really dead this time. It thrashed for a few seconds, then finally went still to everyone's relief. Allura opened her mouth and was about to say something, but she never got the chance. Suddenly, everyone heard a cluster of the same noise from outside the castle.

"We've got incoming!" Pidge exclaimed in alarm.

As everyone looked to where Pidge's gaze fell, they all drew a quick breath. Outside, an entire fleet of Galran ships was emerging from the depths of space and into view, taking everyone by unwanted surprise.

"How did they find us?!" Allura asked, panicked. "We should have lost them the last time!"

"Apparently not!" Lance remarked.

"We can't go to the Blade of Marmora headquarters now." Pidge commented. "If they found us again they could track us to them!"

"However they found us, they're here now." Shiro's cool but urgent voice broke through the panicked atmosphere as everyone turned their eyes to him. "We have to lose them."

"Coran, set a different course and prepare to wormhole!" Allura commanded.

"I would, Princess," Coran responded, "but the castle controls aren't responding. We've lost nearly all power to navigate. I'm trying to get the emergency power to come online, but it'll take some time before I can re-route our course. Until then, were dead in space!"

"We'll buy you time Coran." Shiro decided. "Paladins, get to your-"

Shiro's sentence was suddenly cut short when he gasped and winced, even staggered a little as a hand suddenly came up to his neck; looking as if he were in pain.

"Shiro?" Keith asked, coming closer. "Shiro?! Are you alright?!"

Seeing how Shiro's hand was covering the right side of his neck, Keith carefully moved his hand to see what was the cause of pain. He gasped to see red blood trickling from two small puncture wounds in Shiro's neck. Shiro grid his teeth at the stinging, burning pain of the venom.

"Shiro," Keith's speech was firm, "we have to get you to a healing pod."

"What?! What's wrong with him?!" Lance asked, coming closer to try and help Shiro if he could.

"Did the snake bite him?" Pidge asked in panic even as Shiro was recovering himself.

Shiro's brow furrowed, and even as he stood up straight with his own strength, he winced a little at the wound in his neck. His eyes held a downward gaze which was weighing risk, cost, and the situation, and they finally focused with a decisive decision.

"Yes," he affirmed Pidge, "the snake got to me, but we can't worry about that now. Right now the most important thing is to clear a path and buy time for the castle so we can get out of here and to someplace safe."

"Right now," Keith objected, "we need to make sure you don't get killed from-"

"I understand your concern," Shiro gently but firmly cut him off, "but we don't have the time to worry about me. Our main goal has to be getting to safety, and we may need Voltron to succeed."

"But going out there could kill you!" Keith further objected, stepping closer.

"We can't think about that now Keith." Shiro told him, voice still gentle as he placed a calming, comforting hand on Keith's shoulder. "The best thing you can do for me is help get everyone out of here. Once we're to safety, I'll go right to the pods, but right now the team and mission have to come first."

The Red Paladin looked at him a moment, torn between helping his friend stay alive and what was best for the team, who were also his friends. He finally sighed heavily.

"Just take it easy and let us know if you feel anything." He finally said, looking at Shiro with a great concern in his eyes.

Shiro gave him a nod and comforting smile.

"I'll be alright." He told him. "And we won't be gone for long."

Keith only sighed, fighting a frustration and fear which had to be swallowed in order to focus on other things. Shiro let his hand slip from Keith's shoulder, then addressed the rest of his team.

"No time to lose now, paladins." he said, his decisive voice calling them to attention. "Get to your lions!"

At his command, they all whirled around to head to their lions, but Shiro could tell by the expressions on their faces that they were all equally afraid for him. He himself didn't really know for sure what was going to happen in the next moments to come, but he'd hold out for as long as he could: for all of them. As Shiro passed Allura, she lightly stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

"Shiro, are you sure?" She asked him, her deep blue eyes looking concerned into his dark irises.

Allura knew that they had no other choice but to send all of the Paladins out, but she hated the thought of a wounded Paladin in the midst of battle.

"I'll be fine, princess." Shiro comforted her with a smile. "We'll be back before you know it."

"But please, just be careful." Allura caustioned. "We need Shiro just as much as we need the Black Paladin."

Shiro gave her a nod, his calming smile remaining on his face. He passed her by to get to his lion, fighting the stinging pain that lingered in his neck like liquid fire.

IXXXXXXXXI

The lions were out of the ship in minutes, and during that time the fleet had gotten terribly closer. Several ships were already flanking the Castle of Lions.

"Can we move at all yet Coran?" Allura quickly asked.

"I'm afraid not. The system was barely able to get the hangar doors open." Coran replied.

"Paladins," Allura said into the coms, "the castle is nearly completely defenceless. We need you to protect us from galran blasts until we can get the particle barrier up."

"We got your back Princess." Keith responded, he and Red wheeling through space as cruisers began to launch their fighters.

The fighters and cruisers were more interested in the lions rather than the castle, and while Allura and Coran were fighting to get the castle up and running to escape, the Paladins were busy with the enemy.

"Might wanna hurry it up guys!" Lance said in the coms as he received another hit from a fighter.

Shiro turned his lion sharply to evade an enemy, getting dangerously close to the lead ship in the process to which he didn't like or intend to do. The fighters were soon the least of his problems though when he felt a great force of pressure suddenly pounding into his mind, causing him to jump and suddenly, he was fighting for control. He could feel Zarkon's cold touch like icy hands clutching his head and squeezing, trying to crush and break his mind. Trying to rip the lion from his grasp. The Black Lion stalled a little, torn between two paladins. A group of fighters saw the lion's struggle and turned their fire upon it, soon banging it and its pilot around with their raining fire. Shiro soon had to let the lion drift in order to use all his focus to fight back Zarkon, who was pressing and pushing ever more on him.

Keith suddenly noticed Shiro and the black lion being battered around and how Shiro wasn't at all making efforts to flee or attack. He was just letting the fighters bang him around. Seeing how close Shiro was to the lead ship and hearing Shiro suddenly grunt over the com, enlightened Keith that Zarkon had to be behind it.

"Guys, Shiro's in trouble!" Keith said to his fellow paladins. "We goda help him!"

He pushed his lion forward, Lance, Pidge and Hunk following: all rushing to aid their leader. They didn't know it, but it was precisely what Zarkon wanted. All five of them in the same spot at the same time. It would make them far more easy to catch. The black paladin was certainly putting up a fight though, and as Zarkon demanded more energy from the druids, he could feel even the lion battling against him. But then he could also feel how suddenly weak the paladin was getting. Like his strength was being stretched to other things as well. He wasn't fully focused. Zarkon could feel it.

"Give in." He told the paladin threateningly. "I know you are weak. Unfocused. You cannot hope to win against me. Not a second or even third time. Give in!"

Shiro could hear Zarkon's terrible voice echo in his mind as loud as if he were shouting right in his ears. He grid his teeth and fought harder, unaware of his team relieving him of the fighters battering him around. The stinging pain in his neck was burning and ice cold at the same moment, tender and constricking his neck it felt like. Keith could hear his friend grunting and struggling as his lion remained stiff and non-reactive to anything around it.

"We have to get Shiro away from the lead ship!" He said. "Back to the castle!"

Hunk reacted by having his lion grab onto Black.

"I've got him!" He said, carrying the Black Lion away from the lead ship as everyone followed, covering him.

Soon Zarkon lost hold of Shiro and the lion after the distance between them grew too great, and when he was free Shiro gave a breathless sigh.

"You alright, Shiro?" Lance asked.

"I will be." Shiro responded, struggling to recover quickly.

"How are the repairs coming Coran?" Pidge asked into the coms.

"We're almost ready, just a little longer." Coran responded.

"And not only that, but we need an opening!" Allura added. "They've penned us in!"

She was right. As Keith glanced around them, there were Galran ships everywhere it seemed. One he saw was activating its tractor beam to catch them.

"Tractor beam! Everyone scatter!" Keith called to his teammates.

Everyone took heed, each lion wheeling around in a different direction than the others. Keith and his lion missed the ray easily, Hunk and Lance luckily dodged away in the right direction and Shiro just barely made it in his reaction time. Pidge on the other hand had been caught.

"Guys! Help!" She shouted, the fear and panic in her voice making all of them whirl around instantly.

"Hang on Pidge!" Keith called to her.

The lions then all banked, soon pummeling their protective wrath upon the cruiser which had been unfortunate enough to catch hold of the littlest of their team. The Black Lion ran its jawblade across the cruiser's side in a long, deep (painful if the ship could feel pain) streak. The Red Lion followed the Black Lion's long cut in the opposite direction with its fiery breath, gashing it further and causing more damage to the ship's mechanics. The Blue Lion took advantage of the distraction Black and Red had caused and froze the cruiser's tractor beam in place, then the Yellow Lion in turn bashed it, shattering it and thus setting the Green Lion free as the beam died out. Pidge was soon back with them as they headed closer to the castle, the Galra tightening the space between them. The castle's barrier was up, which was a hopeful sign to see.

"Please tell me you guys are ready!" Hunk commented, hating how claustrophobic the cruisers were becoming.

"We are, barely." Allura responded. "We still need that opening though!"

"We'll get it for you!" Shiro told her. "Paladins, form Voltron!"

At his command, the lions grouped together in formation, flying upward despite the Galran fire around them. They were able to form the great warrior before the enemy could try to seperate them. Voltron now hovered by the castle's side, its sword formed and poised to strike through any ship in its path.

"Alright team," Shiro said, now more stronger and focused than he had been, "get ready to clear a- ah!"

Shiro suddenly cried out as he felt Zarkon bash hard into his mind with a terrible and painful force. The head of Voltron jerked a little, as if it had been hit by something head on. Shiro was once again fighting with all his will and strength against Zarkon. He felt like he was a crumbling against a raging flood of water. His ears fell deaf quickly to the concerned shouts of his team.

"Shiro can you hear us!" Keith shouted to him, fighters beginning to hit on Voltron from all sides: without the decisive head focused on the battle, the attacks were brutal and without end.

"We're getting hammered!" Pidge desperately cried, her lion being hit several times by a few fighters.

"We need that opening, now!" Lance shouted in equal desperation.

"Shiro, we need you!" Keith pleaded to his friend, grunting as a stream of fighters ran all they had against him. "We can't fight without you!"

Shiro knew his team needed him. They couldn't move without the head. He had to fight hard: harder than before. Find a way to push Zarkon out for good. It was when he gave his last, biggest push back that the energy Zarkon was receiving from the druids was spent. Zarkon lost hold of the Black Lion and its Paladin like a fish slipping out of hand and escaping back into the water. Zarkon fell down to one knee with a cry of anger, thrusting a powerful fist into the ground. He grid his teeth, growling as he looked out at Voltron from where he knelt. His chance had been taken from him, and the fact that the Black Paladin had even had enough strength to push him back out enraged the emperor more than ever. The Black Lion was his! Only his! A mere replacement could not keep it from him! He would have that lion, even if it took a thousand lives! A thousand years! He would fight for that lion with all his might for however long it took, and he knew his enemy couldn't parallel his strength and will: not for long at least. The Black Paladin was weak, his energy being sucked away from him: Zarkon had felt it. Even though he hadn't been the original and main target, somehow it happened that he had been bitten, and it worked out to be within Zarkon's ultimate plan. It wouldn't be long before the Paladin's strength was spent, and once it was, Voltron would be without its leader, and thus be powerless against the rightful Black Paladin.

"I'm back." Shiro said, sounding breathless and tired against his will. "We need to find an opening, if we can!"

Keith looked desperately around, knowing Shiro wasn't up for a major battle. They needed an opening, a way of escape, and fast! The Galra were everywhere and closing in fast. Soon they would be in the reach of every ship's tractor beam with little room to maneuver. Keith as well as the rest of the Paladins searched and searched for a way out. Keith's eyes looked around desperately. There had to be a way. His eyes were moving so fast, looking around for even a chance of escape. There was no way. The Galra were everywhere. What hope was there of escape?! There was none. Or at least, so it seemed for a minute.

Something suddenly caught Keith's eyes as if shining right into them, like the reflection of a light hitting off a mirror's face. When Keith looked to where he had seen it, it wasn't as bright as it had appeared to be, but was still glowing with some kind of light it seemed. It was a strange, golden light which shimmered but stayed very still and never flickered. If it was a star (small enough to be one), it was an unusual star which rather than just a white dot in space, was glowing and near shining with a captivating light. It was a light which Keith couldn't turn from, and he suddenly realized that he could not only see the light so well because of how it glinted so brightly in the black void of space, but it was either within or behind a small gap in the Galran fleet surrounding them.

"There!" he shouted in hope. "Where that star is! Do you guys see it?"

Everyone looked around for only a moment.

"Where?! There are literally a million stars around us!" Lance stated in slight impatience, wiping his head in all directions as he searched wildly for what Keith had mentioned.

"Right there! Twelve o'clock!" Keith tried to give them all a direction.

"Where's that?!" Lance panicked, trying to remember where that direction was.

"I can't see anything!" Pidge commented, looking ahead of them (twelve o'clock).

"Yeah, I don't see any big stars or anything." Hunk agreed.

Keith only groaned in frustration.

"How can you guys not see it? It's right there!" he said impatiently.

"I see it, Keith," Shiro suddenly chimed in, his voice almost unbelieving, "or at least, I think I do. The kind of gold colored star?"

"Yes! That's it!" Keith exclaimed, his tone higher in stress.

"And there's a gap just big enough for the castle to squeeze through!" Shiro then realized with rising hope. "Do you guys see the gap?"

"Oh wait," Pidge now paused, looking with concentration, "yeah, I see the gap! You're right! I think it's just big enough for the castle to get through!"

"Let's go then!" Shiro decided, eager to be out of the fleet's circle. "Allura, follow us! We've found a way through!"

"Roger that," Allura came in through the coms, "I see it too."

Shiro and his team led the way to and through the gap. The Galra realized too late their opening and tried madly to close it, but their prey were already nearly through the gap and free. Many cruisers were trying to hit Voltron or even the castle with their ion cannons, or suck them in, but were somehow missing or merely glazing their targets. Fighters tried to push them back, but the outnumbered prey prevailed even so. As they neared the star which almost seemed to be at the end of the gap, Shiro squinted upon seeing something out of the ordinary. The star he was seeing didn't seem to be getting closer as he would expect it to. It almost seemed like it was moving further away from them, like the star was leading them for a while before it seemed that they were then catching up to it. Though he could feel himself becoming very tired and dizzy, either from the fight with Zarkon or the bite in his neck, he couldn't tell.

"Everyone get aboard, quick!" Allura ordered in haste. "It's going to be close!"

As Allura began to open a wormhole, Voltron seperated into the five lions and made their way towards the hangar. As Keith flew in a mad dash to the hangar with Shiro behind, the castle right about to enter the wormhole, he suddenly saw the strange star as they seemed to pass it. It was too quick for him to get a good look by the time he realized he was passing it, but he thought in the back of his mind that he had seen a strange figure within the star itself. He would even say that the star looked to be no bigger than maybe he himself. It was a wonder that he and Shiro had seen it at all with how small and far away it had been. He soon had to focus on other things though as he followed his teammates into the hangar.

Allura could feel the wormhole suddenly growing unstable as they were already halfway through it. The councils around her were flashing red in danger and warning, and Coran was struggling to keep the castle's path in line. The castle was quickly falling out of the wormhole, beginning to turn and act in the same way it had done when the wormhole had been hit by Haggar's magic not very long ago. Allura did wonder if Haggar somehow had something to do with all of this, but the thought was brief upon the present situation getting worse.

The Paladins and lions had just barely made it into the hangar and were fighting to stay in the castle as it began to lose control, the doors not yet fully closed. The castle was then suddenly whirled around in a dizzying movement, throwing everything inside all around uncontrollably. It was when that happened that the lions were all violently thrown out of the hangar to plung in different directions out into space. The last thought Shiro had in his tired last moments of consciousness, was of the strange woman he had seen within the midst of the golden light of that strange star that had led them to their escape, or possible doom.

**Hey guys!! Here's the next chapter! Can't WAIT to hear what you guys think!! Also just so you guys are aware, Flicka and I are changing the schedule on you guys. We are finding it hard to post on Friday so we will be posting on Saturdays from now on. And with that.. enjoy!! Thx!!!**


	4. A Strange Beauty

Chapter Three

A Strange Beauty

Darkness. That certainty was the only thing Allura knew at this moment. She didn't know where she was other than in that void of emptiness. Could she be dreaming, or was this what death felt like? Suddenly feeling her neck cramp up due to the odd way it was positioned enlightened her that she was, in fact, alive and waking up. Even as Allura knew that she opened her eyes though, she couldn't quite see much of anything: seeing or not though, she had to sit up lest her neck stay in the painful position it was in forevermore.

Moving her hands out to gather more stability, she began to slowly push herself up, careful not to harm her neck in the process by moving it too quickly. She tilted and twisted her head gently to stretch it out and righten any off muscles until the tenderness was more or less gone. Feeling as if the darkness around her would swallow her whole with sharp, invisible teeth, Allura suddenly felt an almost panic kind of urgency to have some light. She felt around on her wrist band for the flash light built into her suit.

Once Allura activated the light, she gave a cry and backed away in fright from the wide eyed, gaping mouthed head of the decapitated snake head lying right in sight of the light. Allura quickly realized that it was dead however, and so relaxed with a sigh. The body of the creature lay not far from the head, a horrible dark red liquid still oozing and drying on the floor from the gaping wound of where it had been decapitated. Moving past the snake sight, Allura looked around, shining her light wherever she looked. The castle bridge room was dark with seemingly no power, the black veil shading the windows and allowing her to see nothing of what lay outside. Silence deafened her ears, and a small shiver ran down Allura's spine as she felt the cold of space.

Allura stood up, suddenly realizing that the ship was off balance as she did, and she then recalled that they had been forced to crash land the castle somewhere. The impact must have knocked her unconscious, and as she stood up, she did feel a little weak from the energy she had put into the castle during their escape. But even as Allura recalled the attack of the Galra and the short trip through the wormhole before they fell out of it, she suddenly found herself unable to remember what she had seen before they crash landed. She focused and tried hard to recall, retracing her steps in her mind, but she couldn't recall anything. She couldn't even remember what she had seen of the planet they had been crashing down towards. Had she received a minor concussion?

Allura's mind trailed to other things as she became worried about how long she and Coran had been out, and where the paladins were. The snake on the floor reminded her that Shiro was still poisoned, and it made her all the more fearful. Allura shined her light around to look for the teludav in the center of the room. Seeing the two pillars of white, she came to them and attempted to power up the crystal, hoping to bring up the map and try to find the lions. She was disappointed however. The castle probably wouldn't be coming back online for a while.

As Allura began to worry more about the team, she could feel herself beginning to lose grip of herself. Her breath quickened as her heart began to pound rapidly. If they had been out cold for a long while, what had become of the paladins?! Were they alright?! Were they even alive?! Could the Galra track them down again and finish the fight?! The thoughts and predictions of all the terrible outcomes were rising in a horrible cluster which felt like cold coils constricting around her chest. How was she going to fix this?! Could she fix it at all? Was there something she could have done to prevent it all from happening?!

Allura had to stop and work to pull herself back together, even as she felt the sting of fear well up in her eyes. She shook her head a little and blinked, managing to rid herself of the small tears welling up. She had to be strong and keep herself collected so she could help her team. Taking one step at a time would benefit her team far more than her panicked tears, and so Allura's first step to distract herself from her fears was tasking herself with finding and helping Coran, wherever he was. Regaining herself, pulling the emotions back behind the walls a princess had to upkeep, Allura looked around the bridge room, shining the light in every direction to find her friend.

"Coran? Coran are you there? Where are you?" She called, looking around and hoping to hear his voice.

She walked towards his control panel, not seeing him. He wasn't on the floor in front of the control panel, and Allura wondered where he could possibly be. He startled her when he suddenly emerged from unconsciousness behind the control panel and shot straight up with a cry, as if he had meant to scream before they crashed but had blacked out before he could. Allura jumped in response to his sudden awakening as her light shone unintentionally right in his face.

"AH! Blinding light!" he exclaimed, covering his eyes frantically.

He then quickly lost his balance on the unbalanced floor of the castle and so disappeared for a moment as he fell back to the ground behind the control panel with a thump. Allura heard him groan from behind the panel, and so came around the front of the panel to him, trying not to shine her light right in his face this time as she knelt down.

"Coran, are you alright?" She asked him.

"Yes," Coran replied as he regained himself, sitting up and rubbing his sore back, "I suppose so."

He then searched the princess with worried eyes.

"And are you alright, Princess?" He asked of her in return.

"Yes, I am."

"Good." Coran then suddenly looked around uneasily with his eyes. "We're not dead are we?"

"No, I don't think so." Allura answered with a slight chuckle, and she then looked around. "But it looks like the castle is completely out of power. I tried bringing it back already, but it's no use. It's completely incapacitated."

Coran looked around, suddenly looking puzzled.

"I'm surprised the castle's emergency power hasn't even kicked in yet." He commented, standing up and dusting himself off. "So much for emergency power since this very well seems like an emergency."

"Is there a way we could jumpstart the castle? Or at least the emergency power?" Allura queried, standing with Coran.

Coran was very silent for a moment, thinking hard until he then brightened.

"Oh, I think I might have an idea." he announced. "Since the escape pods have their own power cores, they might have enough energy to jumpstart the castle's emergency power."

"But they're all in the hangar," Allura recalled, "how can we get to them with no power to open the doors?"

"Hm, that is a good point." Coran admitted, twisting an end of his mustache between his fingertips in thought. "Perhaps we could squeeze through some of the air vents to get there? There's one in here I think, and it should be right about…."

Coran looked up and around briefly, his sentence trailing off. He was soon gently taking Allura's hand and pointing her light around so he could see around them, having her turn clumsily with him as he turned around a few times to find what he was looking for. Finally, her light settled on an air vent h in the wall.

"There." he finished.

"Its, rather high." Allura voiced as they stared at it. "How could we even reach it?"

"And I'm afraid the vents in the castle are rather small." Coran added. "I probably wouldn't fit. You might though."

"I'm afraid what knowledge I have of repairing this castle would be limited without you." Allura replied to him, depressed. "How else could we power up the castle, which would involve us being in this room?"

"I don't know." Coran confessed with a shrug, and he began to think very hard again. "Perhaps we could- no. That wouldn't work…. But then if we- oh no, that wouldn't work either. Hm…."

Allura wasn't really the mechanic or technical genius like Coran, or Pidge, or even Hunk, and so she found herself being near blank on what they could utilize in the bridge room. Her thoughts were suddenly paused though when she began to hear a noise.

"Do you, hear that, Coran?" Allura asked bemusedly, pausing and listening.

Coran was now quiet in listening for any sounds that Allura might have heard.

"I don't hear anything." He admitted with a shrug, then noticed the snake head on the floor which he could barely see with the dim light of Allura's flashlight, and a sudden suspicion and a nervous look came to his face. "It wasn't that, was it?"

Allura merely glanced at the snake head. "No, it's not that." She answered him thoughtfully.

Allura ventured forward, not completely knowing where she was going but trying to see if she could find out where she was hearing the noise. She was silent, pinpointing from where the noise came from until she finally found herself looking up to the air vent from where it all seemed to come from. She aimed the light at the vent and kept it there, as if waiting for something to show itself. Upon hearing the little familiar squeaks and the pitter-patter of little paws on metal, Allura knew what the sounds were in seconds.

"It's the mice!" She said as the vent grate suddenly popped opened and fell to the floor, revealing four little mice standing inside.

They squeaked to Allura and started to look for a way down.

"Wait, stay up there a moment, little friends," Allura told them, coming closer, "perhaps you can do what we can't."

"Wait, you want the space mice, to try and get the castle running?!" Coran suddenly asked in disbelief.

"I don't see why not," Allura said with a shrug, looking up to the mice, "they're quite clever you know."

"But connecting the energy of the pods to the castle?! That mine as well be rocket science to them!" Coran objected. "And in all reality it actually is rocket science."

"At least let them try, Coran," Allura pleaded, "it's our best option for now. They're memory has proven to be rather intact and proficient, and we certainly don't have anything else to try as of yet."

Coran looked up at the mice with a doubtful gaze, but then after looking at Allura's pleading eyes, he sighed in defeat.

"Alright, very well." he complied, and he turned his attention to the mice, "Listen carefully now, all of you. You'll need to work together in order to pull this off."

Coran then began to give the mice a very carefully thought out direction of what to do. The mice looked at him, their noses twitching, one licking its paws and cleaning its face, and listened with big, rounded ears. One or two of them let their attention wander, which only made Coran pause mid sentence and make certain they were all listening together. When finally Coran was finished, they all squeaked, turned, and headed on their way, the fading sound of their pitter-pattering paws and conversational squeaks the last Allura heard of them after they disappeared from her sight.

"Good luck, little friends." Allura breathed encouragingly after them.

"What do we do now?" Coran asked the princess.

"We wait," Allura replied with a sigh, "and see what happens next."

IXXXXXXXXI

The universe was endless, but when blasting through it at near lightspeed, it could easily seem small. Zarkon's mind was never drifting from his task in his search through the sea of stars, and so he never took notice of the natural beauties which lay in the fabrics of space. He was always stretching as far as he could reach, his search for the Black Lion never ceasing even when his strength waned. Zarkon was halted from his search as his feet hit the floor, his own body unable to support his weight for a moment, his mind almost slow to return to reality. Seeing the druids surrounding him on their knees in near exhaustion made him grunt in irritation. Haggar was the only one standing.

"Was your search fruitful, sire?" she asked.

"No." the Emperor replied coldly. "I sense nothing, not even at the great lengths to which I strained to reach. Wherever the Black Lion has fled, it is far beyond my reach at this time."

"The weapon disappeared from my sight the moment their ship was cast out of the wormhole." Hagar explained, her tone suggesting a vexed kind of mindset. "No wormhole in their possession could have carried them far enough away to sever my connection. The Velga saw through the eyes of its capsule, but even after the body was killed, I could feel it's presence. That presence disappears the moment they entered the wormhole. I fear Voltron may be lost until further proof is provided of their whereabouts."

"Continue to have our fleets on alert," Zarkon ordered, "I want them ready to attack at the first sighting of that castle."

"Yes, my lord." Hagar bowed, and silently left her druids to assist Zarkon as she addressed his orders. Her creation was advanced, enough to where she might have been proud. All feelings of pride and any other emotion had left her years ago however, and so she saw her creations as necessary designs to fulfill her emperor's will.

IXXXXXXXXI

"What's on your mind, Princess?" Coran asked the young, Altean woman sitting elegantly on the floor, a deep, lost expression in her eyes.

Allura sighed. "I can't stop thinking about everything that has happened." she voiced. "Shiro had strengthened his bond with the Black Lion, but even so Zarkon was still able to track us down. And the Galra attack seemed all too perfect in timing, since it happened right after the castle was stalled and Shiro bitten by that snake."

"I agree." Coran said with a nod. "But how could the Galra have known at what point to attack?"

"I'm not sure." Allura said with the shake of her head. "The only thing I can think of that could explain some of this is… Haggar."

Her voice turned cold when she spoke the name, her fingers curling into fists.

"Haggar must have had something to do with this! That snake must have done something to the crystal, and damage like this could only be caused by her magic." She sneered through clenched teeth.

"I guess we'll only know for sure when the castle comes back online and we can get an assessment of what the damage is." Coran said, looking around. "Or, correction, 'if' the castle comes back online."

Allura gave him a light smile. "I think the space mice are up to the task." She said confidently. "Think of all the times they've helped us in tight situations."

Coran gave a doubtful look, not recalling any times the space mice had ever really helped. "I would be very surprised if those little creatures had enough brains to get this castle up and-"

Just as he was about to finish, the lights dimly flickered and came on, and the castle's emergency power finally kicking in. It wasn't as bright as the castle lights would normally be, but rather dim and reserved to give power to as many of the ship's primary controls as possible. Coran froze in pure shock, his jaw dropping, and Allura chuckled at his gawking expression. But then her attention was suddenly drawn to the now unshaded windows of the bridge, allowing her the view of the land around them. She slowly stood up and turned off her light to get a better view of their surroundings, and soon both she and Coran were in shock of what they saw.

Outside and all around the ship, lay the grounds of a planet unlike anything they had ever seen. There was no sun or definate sky, but the land wasn't shrouded in darkness or shadows. In fact, it all looked to be caught between day and night, and somehow, it was neither. Where one would assume there to be a sky, looked to just be space itself, no atmosphere seeming to be present. There were strange and small streaks of color through at random points in the atmosphere which gave it a sky like feeling in a way. The horizon even looked to have a slight, purple glow, almost like what someone would see in the sky from the last light of a setting sun. It was present in all directions on the horizons though, as if the glowing light came from everywhere, and not a setting sun. It was because of the glowing horizon that Allura could actually tell where the ground of the planet and sky of stars separated.

The soil below the castle and everywhere Allura looked was pure black, almost as black as the space between the stars. The only thing that really gave the ground away were the clusters of large and small, luminescent objects which reflected the purple hue of the horizon. It was all very alien and unfamiliar, even to the Alteans who had seen many different kinds of planets. In fact, it was very difficult to tell if this was a planet or a moon with the absence of a defined sky and atmosphere. While somewhat dreary and empty, something about the land gave a pressingly mysterious and even watchful feeling. There was even a strange beauty to the land, one which the Alteans could only silently marvel at.

"I've, never seen anything like this place." Allura admitted, slightly breathless in awe of it all.

"Nor have I." Coran commented in agreement. "I have no idea where we could possibly be."

"Hopefully with the emergency power up and running, we might be able to find where we are." Allura said, coming back to the teludav.

She set a palm on each of the pillars, and once again focused her energy, but her brow furrowed in a way that showed a sudden confusion.

"I can feel the castle is dimly awake," she stated, her eyes still closed as she felt through the castle's energy, "but I'm getting nothing from the crystal."

"Perhaps that snake's venom did more than just stall the castle." Coran ventured.

He came to his control panel and tried to get it up and running. The panel was very faint, and flickered horribly in its weakened state, but Coran was able to get bits and pieces of data.

"From what I can tell," He said after a minute of deciphering the on and off readings on the screen, "the power crystal is severely damaged; as in, not giving us enough power to run the ship. The emergency power is all that's keeping this ship alive right now, and we'll run out eventually if we don't find a new crystal."

"So that must become our first priority." Allura decided. "I'm assuming we have enough power for the hangar doors to open?"

"Yes. It's just the matter of getting to a Balmera to get a battleship class crystal. We'll need to be quick though so we can get the communications up and locate the paladins."

"Shouldn't one of us stay here to monitor the castle and its condition?" Allura suggested.

"It could be a good idea," Coran admitted, "but it could also be a bad one. I'm not sure if leaving you here alone is the best option, Princess."

"I'll be plenty safe within the castle." Allura said with a harmless shrug. "And I can get a status report of what's working in the castle and what will need repair after the crash we suffered. I could easily fill you in on all of it once you've returned."

"Are you sure? Something about you being all alone while I'm gone doesn't sit well with me." Coran fretted after thinking it over a bit.

"I won't be completely alone." Allura shrugged again. "I'll have the space mice, and they've already proven to be capable of handling things bigger than their size."

The mice all puffed out their chests proudly at hearing her statement, and Allura smiled down at them as they did. Coran thought again for a little longer. He ultimately sighed, giving in; their situation winning out against his fears.

"Alright, I suppose it wouldn't hurt for you to stay here." He conceded. "But I want you to remain within the castle, where it's safe."

"Of course." Allura agreed with a light smile.

They got to preparations right away. Luckily they were short and swift as the need for a new crystal was desperate. Coran said a quick goodbye to Allura, reminding her to stay within the castle as she reminded him to stay safe. Coran departed in one of the pods, the hangar doors slowly opening and closing behind him as he left. Allura was left alone in the hangar bay, the mice on her shoulders serving as her only companions in the dimly lit halls and rooms of the Castle of Lions. As she stood alone for a few minutes, she sighed. Wherever the paladins were, she hoped with all of her soul that they were safe, or at least alive: and that they would know that she and Coran were going to find them as quickly as time would allow.

**Hello everyone!! Finally we're are posting another chapter. I sincerely apologize for the long what but FlickaLightBeast(now known as MelodyBryt2020) and I have been very busy and due to the whole COVID-19 we decided to try and get another chapter out. Stay safe, stay healthy and have hope! Lord knows we'll be ok so long as we trust in Him! Thx!**


	5. Divided

Chapter Four

Divided

Darkness faded away as the world returned to light, vision slowly clearing away the inky veil. Like waking from a dreary and lonely dream which one couldn't remember. There was discomfort, yet a lack of the will to get up immediately. As he recognized the colors and shapes of the Yellow Lion's cockpit, Hunk came back to his senses very groggily. He found both from the angle at which everything was and by his nearly asleep cheek, that he was lying on the floor, drooling only slightly. How he had ended up there on the ground was beyond him, but nevertheless he slowly pushed himself up to his knees, groaning. By now, he expected one of his teammates to be asking if he was alright, or they'd be in the middle of discussing something, but the coms were eerily silent, he noticed.

"Guys?" Hunk asked, a little concerned. "Hey, does anyone hear me?"

There was no response. Hunk then noticed by the bright sunlight coming in through the windshield, and by no other lights within the cockpit, that the Yellow Lion was dark. Still unconscious? Hunk tested his theory by getting into his chair and moving the controls. With seemingly no power to generate the holographic screens, there was no other way he could affirm what he was guessing. The lion remained still, not to Hunk's surprise. Hunk sighed, trying to work out what had happened and where he was. Part of his question was answered as he looked up and at what lay outside his lion. The bright, desolate land outside intrigued him just as much as it confused him.

IXXXXXXXXI

The air was chilly, like waking up in a cold room, and really, that was precisely what was happening. No matter how much he tried to stay asleep or warm himself by cuddling further into a ball, Lance couldn't quite get very comfortable. He was sitting in an awkward, upright position, which made it near impossible to be very comfortable at all. He couldn't lay back like how he wanted to just as he couldn't roll over onto his side like how he wanted to. He had little room to really do anything very comfortable except sit up. In slight frustration, Lance finally opened his eyes and sat up, wondering what could be causing him so much grief. Looking around the dark cockpit of the Blue Lion, reminiscence hit him like a splash of cold water. He groaned.

"Does anyone have any idea where the quiznack we landed?" Lance asked grumpily into the com, rubbing his slightly sore neck.

Deafening silence responded on the coms, much to Lance's sudden attention and concern.

"Guys? Can anyone hear me?" he asked, and he looked out the windshield to see if he could see any of his team.

The land outside was rather dimly lit, with no clear sun, clouds, or even a horizon. All Lance could see was a white landscape, looking a light shade of gray like how Earth looked on a cloudy day. He noticed the muffled sound of raging wind, and a sound like rain hitting the lion's surface. Was Lance in some kind of storm? The sight of his breath coming out in smoke looking puffs, the cold air, and the whitish landscape, gave Lance the assumption that he was in the middle of a blizzard. Because of the blizzard, there wasn't really much light from outside to flood into the cockpit. Lance shivered to think of how cold and dark it would be when nightfall came around). Something then hit Lance like another splash of cold water.

"Of course they can't hear me!" he exclaimed aloud to himself, as if he was some sort of dumb-dumb. "The storm's probably messing with the com signal!"

That meant Lance would have to get closer to one of the other paladins in order for a signal to get through to them. It looked pretty bad out there though, even from in here. Despite that, Lance didn't need a lot of complicated thoughts or equations to figure out that in order to find the others, he'd have to leave the Blue Lion's shelter. He'd have to brave the cold and hope he'd stumble upon someone or something. He just hoped he'd start off in the right direction, and that they all weren't too far away.

IXXXXXXXXI

Sleepy eyes fluttered open, brown irises drowsily looking around as they struggled to focus. Pidge stretched, admittedly an odd thing to first do after waking from unconsciousness, but she had been slumping in an odd way and so needed it. It wasn't quite the peaceful stretch someone might do after waking from a pleasant nap or in the morning, but rather an uneasy, pinching almost stretch as bones cracked, joints ached, and tight muscles were forcibly loosened. Pidge winced as it felt like needles were pricking her spine, rotating her arms to get the weird, numb feeling out of her hands. After the brief stretch, Pidge looked around the cockpit of her lion.

Green was out cold, its lights dark with not many chances of flickering back to life any time soon. The only light that was visible was outside the windshield, and none of it was coming in directly through the glass. As Pidge examined the area outside her lion from where she sat, she saw that the Green Lion was flooded in sunlight while everything else around them was rather shadowy, like being put in a spotlight. Seeing tall trees with thick canopy made Pidge guess that she had landed in the middle of a forest, or perhaps a jungle, given the glimpses of vines and thick vegetation that she saw. She'd only know for sure though if she got out to look around, and so getting up from her seat, Pidge went to the more back of the lion to do just that.

IXXXXXXXXI

Keith's eyes flashed open, as if provoked by some present danger that was about to strike. His eyelids grew heavy though, as they were not ready to be in use quite yet. Keith granted them some hard blinks in an effort to stay awake and alert. He felt dizziness come in, but shook his head weakly to rid himself of it. His legs were near asleep, his body was sore from the crash, and screamed at him as he forced it to do his bidding and move. Keith wearily scanned the dark area of the cockpit, ensuring that no danger was present; danger that he could see, at least. He had seen this before, the dark, lifeless controls. Red wasn't going to be coming back online for a while. His mind was jolted from those thoughts though when he suddenly noticed where he and his lion were. His eyes looked out at the landscape that lay before him through the windshield of the Red Lion.

A rocky plain stretched out before him, the color of a dark, faded rose. A plain of dust, looking vast and dead, was all that could be seen for several miles. Beyond the plain, looked to be great rock formations and boulders. Beyond that, stood a huge, smoldering volcano: bleeding lava from its top and standing as if guardian to the land around it. It's very breath was in great clouds of black which hovered poisonously in the sky. The lonely volcano stood supreme and monstrous above all else: still, yet not at peace.

Keith frowned just a little. Volcanic activity could complicate things, and he hadn't even figured out what other things he needed to worry about. From what he could see through the windshield, there didn't seem to be anyone else out here, but he checked the coms just in case.

"This is the red paladin checking in, does anyone copy?" Keith asked.

There was silence, but no interference it seemed.

"I repeat, this is the red paladin checking in. Does anyone copy?" He asked again.

There was no response. Keith sighed. Knowing that Red was out cold though, and that it would probably remain that way for a while, he figured the best thing to do was to go outside and look around to get a better idea of what to do, and where to go. Keith leaned forward to stand up, but a sudden shock of pain which raged through his right shoulder made him freeze with a gasp. Staying still didn't get rid of the pain, but it didn't escalate either. Wincing, Keith looked to his hurting shoulder to see if he could spot what was causing the pain.

His right arm hung from his shoulder in a very odd way, looking very much out of place, and it was near impossible to move at all: and it hurt very badly. A dislocation, Keith realized, and another complication. Keith had broken a bone once -the result of a bad fall on his arm, and the same one in fact- but this pain was terribly different. Nothing was broken, just simply and quite painfully, out of place. Nerves and muscles were stretched in a way they weren't designed for, paralized and screaming. However he had managed to dislocate anything was a surprise, but not at all a pleasant one. Unfortunately, Keith couldn't reset the arm himself, since that required a second person. He would have to somehow deal, or find a more creative way to put the arm back in place. Either way, Keith wasn't going to get far with anything if he remained where he was. Dislocation or not, he couldn't just sit here, and his main goal of looking around hadn't changed.

Minding his arm and being careful not to move it too much, Keith stood from his seat, and gingerly began to work his way to the back of the lion to where the hatch to the roof was. It took a great amount of effort and enduring pain, but Keith managed to get himself up and through the opening of the hatch. When finally he was atop the Red Lion's back, he found himself facing the rear of the metal beast. By the looks of it, he and Red had bounced or gone end over end quite a few times before finally coming to a stop. The long untouched earth was wounded and torn up by the large cuts and marks left behind by the noisy visitors. By seeing those track marks, Keith found that he and Red had landed, not at the edge, but in the near middle of the flat plain he had seen before through his windshield. Turning around, he saw the rock formations he had seen up ahead were bigger than they had seemed before for some reason. Looking more closely, Keith noticed that there was a narrow break between that cluster of rocks. Like some kind of narrow pass which led through the rock formations, almost like a canyon. A possible route to investigate?

Keith looked further left, and there was nearly nothing but desert-like plains for miles. Behind them was the same. The right was the same as well. Nothing but plains. Except, when Keith looked harder, it wasn't just plains. There was some kind of gap between this plain the one a few miles out. Keith wondered if it was some sort of drop off, but as he was looking closer, he noticed something odd. There were some kind of long, dents or ruts in the earth near the edge of the drop-off, but they didn't lead to anything. They just seemed to end without a source or cause. Keith wondered what could have caused such an odd thing, but as he kept looking to figure out what it was, he realized it looked very similar to the ruts his own lion had made in their crash.

Something then went off in Keith's head at that moment, a chilling fear running down his spine and making him tense. Hadn't Shiro been right behind him before the wormhole jump had gone all wrong? Maybe he wasn't the only paladin who had landed out here. If that was the case, that other paladin could be Shiro, and he needed help far more than Keith did. He could even be dead with that poison running through his body, and that frightened Keith down to his very core.

In a suddenly very urgent and desperate mindset, Keith began to quickly make his way down his lion. The pain in his arm was horrible, but he couldn't do anything with it at the moment. The best he could do for now was hold it in his other arm like a sling. It was a somewhat long way to where Keith guessed Shiro could be. With no breeze of any kind, the sound Keith's feet made in the dirt felt louder than ever in the quiet plains.

IXXXXXXXXI

The heat which rushed to meet Hunk's face was like the opening of a hot oven, intense and sudden as he lifted the hatch door of the Yellow Lion. The pure blast of the bright sun blinded him, and he had to shut his eyes and put up a hand to shield them. That resulted in his other hand losing grip of the edge of the hatch, and he fell back down inside the cargo hold of the lion with a small crash.

Hunk groaned as he sat up. The inside of the lion had been so much cooler and darker than outside. From his seat in the cockpit, he had seen the waves of sand and the glaring sun, which all but screamed a desert. The heat he had felt just now confirmed it, to Hunk's disappointment.

"Why did it have to be a desert?" He asked as he got back up from the ground and stepped back up to the hatch trapdoor.

Opening the hatch, this time prepared for the sun and heat, he managed to lift himself up and out of his lion. Now in the full sight of the sun, Hunk could already feel himself getting hot. From atop the back of Yellow, he was able to see the endless sea of sand which stretched to the horizon. The horizon itself was a blur as the waves of heat scorched the land. There was nothing but endless sand for miles in every direction. No sign of life or any of the other paladins. Hunk's heart sank from his chest down to his feet, and almost past into the very sand beneath his lion. How was he going to find any of them out here? How were they going to find him?! What dangers could there be out here, besides the deathly heat and risk of starvation? Should he stay and wait for rescue, or leave in the hopes of finding food and water. He sighed, beginning to feel that very hungry feeling in his stomach, demanding the comfort of food.

"I could really go for some space grub right about now." Hunk said aloud longingly, not really to anyone in particular as he stood in the heat.

This wasn't the first time Hunk had been stranded on a planet. Oddly like last time, a wormhole jump had gone wrong and flung Hunk and his teammates out to dump them on a planet in the middle of nowhere. Unlike last time though, Hunk was seemingly, completely alone. Lance hadn't fallen down with him it seemed. There was no one. No one to talk to, no one to calm him down when he got stressed, and no rations or food, sadly.

Hunk then suddenly paused at that thought, since all of a sudden, it didn't sound right. After the last time they had gotten stranded on desolate planets, Shiro had decided to be better prepared in case there was a 'next time'. Along with a training exercise of basic survival in the wild, Shiro had put together a survival kit equipped with some basic survival tools: things like a fire starter, first aid, a tent, a water cleanser to purify water if a fire was unavailable, some bottled water and some rationed….

"Food!" Hunk said aloud, the thought lifting his heart back to his chest again.

With a spout of energy, Hunk scrambled to re-entered his lion through the hatch and went to where the survival supplies were kept. The door was automatic, but also made to be opened manually in case the lion's power was down. Upon pushing open the door, Hunk was greeted by several crates of supplies lying in a slightly unorganized fashion upon the crash. Hunk's urgent search for food began.

IXXXXXXXXI

Food, water, a fire starter, first aid, a folded tent; all things that were useful in a survival situation, but none of them were what Pidge was looking for. She rummaged around in one supply crate, then another, looking for something extra which she had packed with the survival kit. A small fear in the back of her mind was starting up a worry that somehow it wasn't here, but that was ridiculous. It had to be around here somewhere. She searched a few minutes more.

"Ah-ha!" She exclaimed in triumph, retrieving the desired item when she finally found it.

Carrying the item with her, Pidge climbed back out of her lion and into the sunlight. She and Green had indeed fallen right through a thick jungle canopy, and so there was now a burst of sunlight flooding down on the lion and jungle floor through the clearing their crash had made. Pidge found the highest point she could atop her lion, then looked down at the thing she carried in her hand.

It was a device of her own invention, which had a core similar to the power the Voltron lions ran on, enabling her to track or locate them. She had given the other paladins the same device, though part of her wondered if they all would remember to use it, Lance especially. She activated the scanner, then watched the screen. It showed no activity in tracking or locating another lion, but with the trees being so thick, Pidge could understand why. To try and solve that problem, Pidge looked around for a tree she could easily climb. Finding one close by, she used a boost from her jetpack to get to a tree limb and begin climbing. She had never really played outside or even climbed trees all that much when she had been younger, preferring to stay inside and do things which seemed a little more interesting. Now, rather than finding it difficult, she rather liked it. She liked the progression part of it, and the higher she got the less worried she was about how far down it was as her eyes were fixed to the top.

With some more climbing, Pidge found her own head breaking free from the canopy of branches and leaves around her, flooding her in the sun's rays. She squinted upon the change of light being so sudden, but was soon staring at the forest surrounding her in every direction. A sea of green stretched out as if never ending, and there were no clearings among any of it. Pidge barely saw the shape of mountains very far away, hued in light blue by the sky and distance between them. It was jaw-dropping, the sights, and Pidge had never seen a more fresh color of greening under a perfectly blue sky in her life. A breeze swept through the trees like a wave, and Pidge felt it break against her as it passed, feeling almost refreshing after her climb. The breeze made her sigh, reminding her somewhat of home.

Having herself move past the scenery though, Pidge took another look at her screen, her other hand holding fast to the tree limb which kept her from losing balance. Now there was an active sign as the scanner searched the surrounding area at a larger radius, looking for the energy source it was programmed to find. It searched, and searched, and searched... and search. A minute passed before Pidge grunted and finally gave up. Two answers to why there wasn't a signal yet found could be that, one, the canopy of leaves was too thick to let the signal travel downward and meant Pidge had to pick a direction and hope she got close to someone, or she was completely alone on this planet. She hoped it was the first answer.

Gathering a hopeful spirit, as well as optimistic outlook, Pidge descended the tree, eventually landing lightly on the ground in front of Green's large nose. Since the helpful little device Pidge had could track the other four lions, it could also keep track of her own as well since it was the same energy source. With that, she could at least have a way to find her lion again. Pidge took a few extra minutes to head back to the storage room and fill a light backpack with some needed equipment, rations, and everything she thought would be needed. When at last she emerged from Green and was on the solid ground of the jungle floor, she couldn't help but look back to her lion, slightly sore to leave it lying where it was all alone. She placed a gentle hand on the metal of Green's nose -what her short legs would allow her to reach at least.

"Sit tight and rest, girl. I'll be back to find you." Pidge told her lion, and a smile twitched at her lips. "Or maybe you'll find me when you wake up."

With that, Pidge chose a direction, then began her trek to find her teammates.

IXXXXXXXXI

Keith pressed on in his long-winded trek. His lungs pleaded to stop, for him to slow to give them a breath, but Keith couldn't, not willingly. If he didn't keep going, he wouldn't get to Shiro, who could be in any state from severely wounded to dead by now. He kept on running, the pain in his still dislocated arm making it all the more difficult to keep up his pace. As he barely kept up his jogging run, Keith passed yet another large, deep looking hole which burrowed into the ground. He had been seeing them a lot though as he neared the ravine, and he wondered what could have caused them. They were quite big, enough for him to fall down, and he hadn't looked to see how far down the bottom was yet.

Keith was running past yet another one when he stopped, mostly because his pace had slowed so much that he just had to take at least a few full breaths. His lungs hurt badly from the lack of air, and while his mind was set, his body wasn't quite as strong at the moment. As he inhaled and exhaled deeply, slightly hunched over, Keith suddenly froze upon hearing something, his breath quieting as best it could. A deep, distant and strange growl sounded as if it were in some kind of tunnel. As Keith looked around warily, looking from where it came, his head slowly turned to the black pit of a hole in the ground next to him. The growling sound had eerily paused, as if suddenly feeling his eyes upon it, and so grew silent. Keith cautiously stepped closer, suspicion itching at him. He took a second to peak down into the hole. It was near black inside, and he couldn't even spot a clear bottom. He half expected something to attack him jumpscare style from within the hole's darkness, but nothing did as he peered down, fighting the urge to move away from it in fear. While he was brought on edge by that deep, almost menacing growl, time was of the essence. He had to get to Shiro before worrying about anything else, and he didn't have the time to wait for something in a hole to come out. Keith pressed on, the momentary stop having given his lungs a bit of a breather, and so he was in a good enough condition to keep going.

When Keith finally reached the place where he assumed Shiro to be, he found his earlier guess to be correct. The break in the plains which he had thought to be a drop-off, was actually a narrow ravine, stretching from left to right for miles. The Black Lion lay out cold in the center of a crater kind of dent in the ground right next to the ravine. The earth near the ravine had given way and slid a little, dipping down toward the drop, but not carrying the lion down to the bottom. A minor trail of earth slides from the lion's tumble marked a bit of the ravine side to the right, but not as major as where the lion now lay. The dent the Black Lion was in was fairly deep, and forced Keith to slide down carefully, loose dirt trailing behind him as he did. When he reached Black's head, he looked desperately up to the eyes.

"Shiro?" he asked. "Shiro can you hear me?!"

There wasn't an answer on the coms. Keith needed to get inside, but that would involve some climbing. With his dislocation though, that wasn't going to happen. He hadn't bothered to deal with it until now, but he forced his mind to think of what he could do. Then, upon thinking very hard, an idea came to Keith. It was a, more or less, stupid idea, and a Lance move in that respect, but it was all Keith could do. He looked around, searching for something in particular. Something that was firm but wouldn't cause too much damage. He found a suitable place on the Black Lion.

Facing a corner of the lion's metal structure, Keith lined himself up so that his right shoulder was in direct parallel to the corner and his head and other shoulder weren't. He then knelt down to have a little more control and narrowed the distance between himself and the corner; he did after all, not want to further damage his shoulder. Taking a deep breath, knowing how much this was going to hurt and hoping madly that it would work the first time, Keith arched his back a little to gain some distance, then lurched himself forward to bash his shoulder into place.

IXXXXXXXXXI

There was a crunching noise as Lance's feet hit the snow, and he was almost instantly blown to the side by a very sudden change of direction of the wind. Biting cold and snow rushed to greet his face. Part of him wanted to go back inside his lion, but he had already gone back inside to get a lantern to not only light his way in case it got dark, but also to be a kind of warmth. Other than that, Lance hadn't brought anything else with him outside his lion. Part of him wondered if it was safe to go out in these conditions. Then he answered himself in that, of course, it wasn't safe! He was in the middle of a blizzard! If he was in danger while in these conditions though, so were his teammates, and he worried about Shiro the most since he was their leader, and he was still poisoned. They were out here somewhere. Alone. Divided. They could be in danger or in need of help, and Lance wanted to help them if he could.

Holding the lantern fast in one hand, the other clutching his other arm across his chest, Lance took each step at a time into the storm to find his lost teammates.

IXXXXXXXXI

The first time hadn't worked, unfortunately. Neither had the second try. Both of them had ended in huge shocks of pain raging in Keith's shoulder. The third try was the most painful out of all of them, but only because it had finally popped Keith's shoulder back into place -to his surprise. Even while it was sore, he could move and use it to help him climb up to the Black Lion's roof hatch. Using his dagger, Keith managed to pry the hatch door open. He landed in the cargo hold of the Black Lion with a light thud.

"Shiro?" Keith called, his voice alone in the empty room.

He came to the doors leading to the cockpit and managed to get them open. Once inside, Keith almost instantly saw the black paladin leaning over in his chair, limp and still. Keith's heart froze as he feared the worst. He rushed to Shiro's chair, coming to gently put him up straight in the seat.

"Shiro? Shiro, wake up!" Keith cried desperately, afraid he was too late.

Even as he was feeling for a pulse though, Shiro winced. He moving his head a little with a groan, disturbed. His eyes opened, weak, tiredly, and the pain of the wound in his neck was plain on his face for a brief second. When he saw Keith staring worriedly at him, Shiro tried to mask the pain with a small smile.

"You're here?" he asked, as if he didn't believe it.

"We landed in the same area." Keith explained. "How's your wound?"

"Eh." was all Shiro could honestly say, not saying good but not wanting to say bad either.

"Maybe something from the first aid can help." Keith ventured, then went to go fetch the first aid in the survival supplies.

Shiro got up, painfully, from his chair and followed, to Keith's unawares.

"Where did we land?" Shiro asked when Keith came into the cargo room, originally on his way back to the cockpit.

"A volcanic planet, I think." Keith responded. "Now sit down. We don't know for how much longer that poison will take to kill you. Maybe there's something we can do to help slow it down."

"Poison? What poison?" Shiro asked in weak jest, trying to make it seem like he was invincible.

Keith didn't really respond. He only looked at his friend with serious, worried eyes. At seeing that look, Shiro reverted to his serious self again, then looked to the still open hatch above them. He noted that his helmet had already masked and sealed over his mouth to prevent harmful air from reaching his lungs.

"Any word from the others?" He asked.

"No. I think it might be just you and me out here." Keith answered, rummaging through the first aid to see if he could find anything useful to Shiro, soon becoming frustrated as he peered back into the storage closet, "I can't find much of anything useful in here other than bandaids!"

"Bandaids don't fix bullet holes." was Shiro's jested response, an obvious quote from a song; he continued mumbling on the next tune as the actual verse slipped his mind.

That worried Keith a little. Shiro must really be a little loopy from whatever pain he was in to say something like that. Another thing which worried Keith to an extent, was that Shiro's voice was a little faded or distant as he had spoken, as if he wasn't quite as close as he had been. Keith had been so focused on the first aid kit to notice that Shiro had left the cargo hold to go up and outside; he was as stealthy as a cat without knowing or meaning to be at times. Keith nearly jumped at the realization and went up after him. When he got to the top of the Black Lion, he saw Shiro was dangerously close to the ravine edge.

"Shiro!" Keith called, coming down quickly.

"Steep drop." Shiro commented when Keith had come to his side, peering over the edge but minding not to fall.

"Come on, you're getting a little loopy. It's probably from the poison." Keith told him, gently pulling Shiro away from the edge.

Shiro complied, trying to draw himself back to serious matters. They came back towards the lion, Keith keeping an eye on Shiro this time as he continued to look through the first aid. He noted how Shiro was swaying unintentionally on his feet as he looked around with an unfocused gaze, solidifying that he really was getting delirious. Finally, after some more rummaging, Keith found something that might help.

"Here, take this." Keith said, handing Shiro a swallowable pill.

Shiro took it, swallowing it with some difficulty without water, and still looking rather distant. Keith watched him for a few seconds. After a moment, Shiro's rather loopy, not with it look, faded as he began to perk up a little.

"Woah." he said, voice a little stronger and awake. "I feel better already. What was that?"

"Instant pain reliever." Keith replied dryly, summing up what he had read on the bottle.

Shiro stared blankly, realizing how bad he had been.

"Oh." He responded, then was silent.

It was in their silence that both men suddenly heard something. For Shiro it was something new and alarming; for Keith, it was familiar and threatening. They looked in unison to where the dangerous, low growling kind of noise came from: up.

IXXXXXXXXI

A loud, extensive burp echoed through the cargo hold, much to Hunk's slight regret as he hadn't meant to be so rudely loud. He sat slightly sluggish against a crate, downing some water to the further extent of his stomach. His hand, after a minute, drew aside to feel the floor next to him, as if in search of something on its own. Hunk was pretty relaxed and stress-free up until he found that his hand was touching nothing but the floor. His once closed eyes suddenly flew open, and he looked to his right where his hand had been feeling. There was nothing there.

In a moment of small panic, Hunk got up off the floor only to peer into the opened crate he had been leaning against. It was cleaned empty of what it had once carried. Hunk then tensed, suddenly realizing what he had done, and his eyes slowly looked to the pile of wrappers lying in a nearby corner where he had tossed them. Had the food supplies really gone out that fast?! Had he just stress-eaten through all of his rations without pause?!

Hunk groaned and smacked a hand to his forehead, slumping back down to the floor. Now he was really in big trouble. He had recalled Shiro's words upon finding the crate filled with a week's worth of food supplies and wanting instantly to gorge himself.

"The rations are there if you need them, but only use them if nothing else is available or in an emergency." Shiro had said. "And even then, use them sparingly. They could be all you have for however long it takes for rescue."

Hunk had tried to resist, but his stomach had growled so loud and terrible, and he had been so stressed and hangry, that he couldn't. The limit he had mentally set for only having two of the rations, became four more, then eight, until he had just been eating one after another without a second thought. They were delicious to Hunk, and it might have been easier not to eat all of them so soon if they weren't, but it wasn't like Hunk could bring them back. They were gone for good now, digesting in his stomach. His hunger was satisfied for now, but it only took, what, four or so days without food and three without water for someone to die, and even though Hunk had filled the tank, he would eventually run out. He hadn't wanted to go out into that hot, endless desert, but it seemed that now he might have to, if he didn't want to stay in the lion, which was actually beginning to get a little warm from the sun outside.

Ruefully, Hunk assumed he'd have to start right away. Time was of the essence after all, he supposed. As he was getting himself up though, his eye caught the glimmer of an aluminum wrapper around the corner of the crate. His eyes brightened with hope as he reached a hand out to pick it up. Could it really be…. Yes, it was! One last aluminum wrapped granola bar filled with protein. Hunk almost went to unwrap it, but quickly caught himself and decided to shove the thing in his belt pouch. Only for emergency, he told himself, as in brink of death emergency. Hunk grabbed two of the bottles of water, two being what he could easily carry, then headed for the hatch door. Upon climbing out, he was greeted once again by the blaring heat and sun. Pushing through it, Hunk finally stood atop his lion. He climbed down, his feet hitting the shifting sands for the first time, then with a last look to Yellow, he began his long trek and quest to find hope in this hopeless desert.

IXXXXXXXXI

Above them, and standing on the back of the Black Lion, was a creature clothed in pale red scales. Its head was crocodile-like in shape, and the tough, pale white coloring made it look like some kind of skull. It had only two legs, which were like arms in positioning. Its body and tail were long and dragged behind it like a snake. Its underbelly was pale white, like its skull. It had no eyes, the places where they should've been colored black as if it really were just the empty eye sockets of a skull. Its head turned though in their direction, as if it did somehow eerily know of their position. It hissed dangerously, looking down at its prey as it licked its lips hungrily with a slimy, black tongue.

Keith and Shiro barely had enough time to get a full look at the creature since it soon lunged at them from above, mouth gaping open at a surprisingly wide scale. The paladins dodged out of the way in opposite directions. While Keith had dodged to the left, Shiro had gone right, and so they were separated when the creature landed between them, mouth clamping shut with a hollow snap. The lizard took a moment to regain itself, then suddenly sniffed, catching a whiff of something in the air. After its nostrils sucked in the scent a few times, its head soon swung over to look at Shiro. The creature hissed again, beginning to draw closer to Shiro, setting him as its new target. Perhaps it was the smell of blood, fresh or dried, that had caught its fancy: a fancy which wasn't wanted.

Shiro activated his weaponized hand, and it burned the glowing purple hue, seeming to strangely belong with the red theme around it. The creature didn't even hesitate or pause, and in fact, its behavior was almost encouraged by the motion as it then made a powerful and surprisingly agile lung. Despite Shiro's burning hand, the creature landed with him pinned beneath a three-toed foot, armed with thick, sharp claws.

Shiro's breath left him as all of the lizard's weight pressed down on his chest, and it soon began to crush him. Its mouth opened, and Shiro saw the teeth and deep throat looming inky black toward his face. Luckily, that was all it did. Before the creature could sink its teeth into its pinned prey, Keith was hacking at its tail with his sword, trying to quickly draw its attention. Keith had at first been worried that his sword would merely bounce off the hard scales after the first few strikes, but he soon was rewarded by his efforts as the repeating strikes at the tail soon began drawing blood. The creature soon roared in pain as it felt the blade beginning to cut through its armor, infuriated. In panic as well as fury, the lizard moved its tail around violently to bash the attacker. The tail caught Keith right in his side, knocking the wind out of him as well as sending him to the ground, a small splatter of blood from the lizard's tail painting his armor.

During his hard fall to the ground, Keith's bayard had fallen out of his grip upon him being winded, landing somewhere above his head. He now lay on his back, but given how he had been bashed towards the edge of the ravine, he feared his bayard had tumbled off the edge. Turning onto his side to get a better look around, he was relieved to see it hadn't fallen off the edge. It was lying about a foot or two from the edge of the ravine and a foot or two away from him, close but not quite within arm's reach.

The lizard behind him gave a dangerously aggravated hiss. As Keith looked back to the beast, its head was turned his way, mouth open in its hiss, giving Keith a small glimpse of its sharp teeth. Keith was defenseless without his bayard against those teeth and claws, and the creature would probably attack once his back was turned, so he had to be quick.

Keith whirled over, turning his back to the lizard in order to get to his feet, his eyes set on his bayard lying in wait for its master. He instantly heard the lizard begin to chase, hearing its feet pound the ground and the claws digging in. Panic gripped at him as he heard the lizard getting dangerously close, hissing and sounding like it was capable of having a grudge, and wanting payback. Once he had his bayard, he would have little time to do much with the lizard on his heels, and so whatever he did would have to count. He couldn't exactly form a plan with the time he had: now it was pure survival instinct and reflexes that would get him through this.

As the beast raged closer, Keith lunged forward, reaching for his bayard. His hand gripped it, and rolling to keep himself moving forward, he whirled around to face the lizard on one knee, bracing himself with the point of his sword facing its underside. By the time he had whirled around though, the creature was already in mid-air, having lept the last few feet, its own instincts driving it just as much as Keith's.

It was on top of Keith in seconds, and he couldn't be sure if his sword had penetrated its belly or had just scraped off as he felt it make contact. All he knew, was that he was soon trapped in the lizard's clutches as they hit the ground once, only to roll off the ravine edge, tumbling and falling in one dizzying plummet which Keith could only assume led to great injury, or death. He hoped it wasn't the last result.

**Hey guys we're FINALLY BACK! Soooo sorry for the crazy delay, but life is crazy! We'll try to do better about making our Saturday post date as best we can but till then.. enjoy this new chapter. Thx!**


	6. Desolate Conditions

Chapter Five: Desolate Conditions

Hunk trudged along through the sand, step by shifting step. One of the many horrible things about sand, is that it was nowhere near solid, and so was always shifting somehow under one's feet just to make walking all the more difficult and long. Up and down over dune after dune, and Hunk had been at it for hours, every minute desperate to hear one of his teammates come in on the coms. The only sound in his ears though were his heavy breaths as he descended another dune, the noise of his feet being softer than his breaths. About less than half way down the dune though, the sand under Hunk's foot had shifted enough to make him lose a step, his foot sliding out from under him and bringing him off balance. It was enough for Hunk to then fall and tumble down the dune. He groaned in aggravation (another thing about sand was how it got everywhere). Even through his skin tight suite, Hunk could feel the grainy, tiny particles of rocks all over him.

Hunk sat up, brushing himself off a little as he began to stand up, only to find he was at the bottom of a dune and looking up to one which towered like a wave in front of him. Hunk inhaled deeply and eased the annoyed feeling he had through his nose, then began to climb up the dune. Because of how the dune became more steep the further up he went, Hunk was well in need of a breather by the time he reached the top. Dune after dune after dune awaited him, with not a spec of anything else for miles. Hunk sighed, slumping down to sit and rest atop the dune. The heat was terrible, especially with his armor and helmet on. While his helmet did keep Hunk's head free of the direct burn of the sun, it was an enclosed space with nothing to let any kind of breeze through. Hunk decided to remove his helmet to give his head some air, his black hair damp and wet at the tips from his sweat.

"What I wouldn't give for a bit of a breeze." Hunk commented ruefully.

As if on cue, a small and quick gust of wind suddenly flew by him, catching some loose sand and running it right into Hunk's face. Hunk fought to keep from falling backwards down the dune he had just climbed after the sudden gust (which was in itself too brief to do much help in cooling him down), rubbing his stinging eyes and spitting sand particles from his mouth.

"Oh yeah sure, thanks!" Hunk responded sarcastically as if the wind could hear him, still recovering.

As Hunk rubbed his eyes clear of the last lingering particles of sand, he noticed something which stuck out in the distance. He blinked, then shadowed his eyes with his hand so he could see a little better. There was something over there, blurred by the heat waves, but there. Hunk's heart raised a little with hope, wondering if it was something that could help him, or maybe one of his friends. No desert can't have some kind of oasis in it, right?

With new energy, Hunk sprang from the sand dune to head off to where he had seen the thing which he hoped was something good. He was soon scrambling back up the dune though to grab his helmet, but he didn't want to put it on right away. Hunk jogged as quick as the sand would allow him up and down the dunes ahead of him, all the while keeping his eyes fixed on the horizon. One moment he was up, the other he was down as he went dune after dune. Soon though, he began to realize a troubling and disappointing fact.

Hunk had been telling himself the heat and work he was building up would be rewarded when he got to the destination, but the destination was not getting any closer. It stayed on the horizon, and each step Hunk took didn't seem to gain him any headway. As Hunk slowed to a stop atop the fifth dune (it had taken at least two or three minutes to get this far), he realized with a sudden thought that what he was seeing wasn't real. He recalled how when in desolate conditions such as the ones he was in, the mind was prone to make the eyes see what they wanted, but it wasn't really there.

Hunk stopped short at coming to that flat conclusion, and as he did, the thing he saw disappeared: like water evaporating upon overwhelming heat. Hunk sighed in disappointment, and couldn't help but once again sit down to take a respite from all the heat and work he had built from that pointless ordeal. He was still breathing heavy, wishing desperately for shade to give him a break from the perpetual rays of the sun, as he sat there alone among the dunes.

"What's the point of all of this?" He found himself wondering aloud. "I don't even know where I'm going, not to mention if I'll ever find anything. This place is just filled with sand. Dirty, itchy sand that gets everywhere."

He kicked the sand at his feet a little, and watched as it disrupted more of its kind and it trickled down the dune. All of this effort, and for what? Hunk wasn't so sure leaving his lion had been the best idea, since at least in there he had some form of shade and more water. As he thought on it more now, Hunk wondered if it would be easier for someone to find him if he had stayed with his lion rather than wander off in a random direction. Shiro would have probably know what the best thing to do was, but he wasn't here. He was off somewhere else, hopefully not lying dead and cold with venom in his veins.

That thought made Hunk uneasy. More than that: frightened. He shivered upon the thought, and once it was there, he just couldn't get it out of his head. Then his thoughts spread to his teammates, Lance, Pidge and Keith, and then on to Allura and Coran (and the space mice, and Kaltenecker). All of his thoughts were troubled, and to top it all off, he was hot and tired. Depression was let in easily despite Hunk normally happy and cheery personality. There are some things which even get to the happiest of people.

"I hope everybody's doing okay." Hunk admitted to the sands as if tiny rocks could listen. "Or at least better than me, since I'm not doing to great."

As Hunk sat in the sand, depressed and somewhat miserable in the heat, his hand unconsciously went to his pouch and drew forth the granola. Sad things as well as miserable conditions made him crave food, but he had the mind to suddenly stop himself from submitting to that habit before it was too late. He had given in once to that, and he was determined not to do it once more. He did however gaze at the wrapped granola ruefully. He sighed, then proceeded to put it back in his pocket. As he was turning his body to make the action easier, Hunk was nearly jumped out of his skin to see something standing right next to him. It was so surprising that he actually did jump, falling back a little and even frantically scootching away a little. He struggled to get upright once again, hurriedly trying to see if the creature had attacked.

Hunk was puzzled to see a small creature (the one he had jumped at) still standing atop the dune where he had been sitting, seeming to have enjoyed the scene of him completely freaking out over it's presence. It was no more than two or three feet high, and looked to be reptilian. Because of its size and rather largely unproportioned body which made very soft curves and plump points, Hunk had a strong guess that his creature was very young (there was nothing visually that made it look able to defend itself). Its large head, fitted with large, blue iris eyes, took a very reptilian look, and actually reminded Hunk a bit of a dinosaur. In fact, the head and overall body of the creature strongly resembled that of a Tyrannosaurus Rex, minus the overly small arms (this creature's arms were designed to be of actual use). Its tail was thick and somewhat short upon needing to be grown out more, and it had a tan, yellow color which almost blended with the sand. Its large, three toed feet, Hunk noticed, had some kind of weblike material (like what frogs had) which probably helped make walking on the sand easier. There weren't many designs on its skin except a few stripes of a lighter brown color which sat on its spine and followed down to its tail. It had very small, horn like projections above its eyes and on it's brow. While the horns' tips weren't razor sharp, they'd definitely give a bruise if the creature wanted to bash something with its head (the horns were colored a lighter tan than its skin). Overall though, it was kinda cute.

The creature's deep blue eyes looked at Hunk curiously, sniffing with the two slits at the near end of its snout (easily its nose). It cocked its head at him, looking him up and down. Hunk found it foolish of him now to have ever jumped at it and mistook it for some kind of threat, since it now just stood there and looked at him.

"Hey there little guy." Hunk greeted, slowly coming back to where he had been sitting as not to scare it off. "I was sure I was the only one out here until you popped up. Sorry about the freak out moment by the way."

The creature just looked back up at him with unpondering eyes, probably not understanding any of what he was saying. It felt nice to actually talk to something though, even if it was just an animal.

"You're pretty small. What are you doing out here all alone?" Hunk asked the creature.

It remained silent, inspecting Hunk and admiring his armor, especially his yellow colored gauntlets. After sniffing his gauntlets a little, the creature opened its mouth and lightly tested its teeth on the armor, as if not quite sure what it was and wanting to find out with its mouth. Hunk chuckled as the creature lightly teethed his gauntlet, eventually letting go upon coming to a kind of conclusion. It looked him up and down once again, giving a small squeak as it looked up at him, cocking its head as it was probably trying to work out what he was. It sniffed him a little, then proceeded to take interest in the granola still in Hunk's hand.

"Oh, that's for me little guy." Hunk told it as it squeaked again, looking at the bar with a certain look in its eyes. "It's really only for emergencies."

Hunk hadn't really felt for sure how sharp the creature's teeth were since his gauntlets had protected him, but when its teeth caught on his hand accidentally as it then snapped at the granola bar, Hunk sudden found first hand how sharp they were. He yelped, instantly pulling his hand away, but his granola bar wasn't so lucky. Trapped within the creature's jaws, Hunk saw the granola bar wrapper sticking out of its mouth. Before he could say anything, the little creature turned and dashed off with his last supply of food, making the oddest little cackling squeak that Hunk had ever heard.

Filled with sudden fury, Hunk raced on after it.

"Hey, you get back here! That's mine! I need it!" he exclaimed, running off and following the fleeing image of the T-Rex creature as it sped at a surprising pace away from him.

The little creature was soon out of sight as it dashed over the rim of a sand dune, Hunk following as fast as he could but limited with the disadvantage of his weight. His feet sank and swished clumsily in the sand as he ran up the dune, only to see the creature disappear as it descended the next one. It was leading Hunk off his original course, but if he didn't get that granola back, he was doomed anyway. Running as fast as anyone could in the shifting sands, Hunk made chase onward after the little creature over a second and then third dune. At the fourth, he was nearly spent, wondering if he would ever catch up. As he slowed atop the dune though, Hunk was bewildered to see the little creature standing atop the second dune in front of him, granola still in its jaws. Its tail oddly waged like how one might see a dog's when playing. It stared at Hunk from where he was, almost as if waiting for him to follow.

Hunk stared at it, perplexed, then began to go after it again, a little slower this time. The creature remained where it was, even as Hunk got pretty close to it, tail still wagging. When he was within arms reach of it, the creature took a step forward like how a puppy might when being excited to see someone. Hunk made a move to take back the granola from its jaws, but it caught on quick to his intent and soon dashed away once again down the dune; once again turning around to wait for him at the top.

"Oh come on." Hunk moaned as he stood where he was. "I can't play these kinds of games! I have to find a way out of here so I can get back to my friends! They could be anywhere and I'm out here in the middle of nowhere with no idea where I'm going."

Hunk sighed, then soon sat down in the sand in dismay. If all this creature wanted to do was taunt him, then what was the point of giving it what it wanted, even if it meant getting back his granola. Hunk shook his head as he looked down at the sand at his feet. What in the world was he going to do, especially without his friends or even his lion to be with him. He knew he was the leg of Voltron and was suppose to hold up the team, but Hunk wondered if they would be there if he needed to be held up. Would they even notice when he was down on one knee, unable to stand on his own and in need of help. Hunk honestly began to doubt, and he felt terrible and ashamed because of it.

Hunk raised his hands to his face to wipe away all the sweat that had gathered on his brow, wishing all of his worries and doubts could be wipes away with it. When he opened his eyes, he was bewildered to see the little dinosaur like creature standing almost right between his feet, its large eyes looking up at him. Somehow, the look in its eyes was different, and Hunk couldn't figure out why until the creature made a very unexpected notion. The little creature gently placed the granola on Hunk's knee, being very careful to make sure it stayed balanced, then waited silently. Hunk's brow furrowed in confusion as he took the bar (it was slightly wet from the creature's mouth) and then looked at the creature in the same confusion.

The beast squeaked at him, then turned and ran on down the dune and to the top of the other. It stopped before going out of sight, then turned back and looked at Hunk, squeaking to him. Was it trying to tell him something? Or maybe not tell, but show. Hunk stood up, and upon seeing him do so the creature went around in a quick circle, excited to see him do so. It then began to move restlessly, waiting for him to follow.

"Well," Hunk said aloud, pocketing his granola, "here goes nothing."

He followed the little creature down the dune, then the next. The little creature led him on through the sands. They walked on for what felt like miles, Hunk constantly thinking in the back of his mind of how crazy all of this was, until they finally reached one very large dune. It was easily the largest out of the largest dunes Hunk had climbed before, and it stretched to his left and right. It couldn't be a wall, since it gently curved out of sight and did not go on in a straight line for miles. The sun wasn't on the horizon yet, but it was nearing that point now. The sand was beginning to take on that gold orange color, black shadows in contrast to the bright colors. Hunk was exhausted, and seeing a very large dune ahead of him only made him groan. The little beast ran straight up it with an abundance of energy, turning and waiting for him at the top which seemed realities away.

"How about we just call it a day?" Hunk called to the creature, near the end of his strength.

The dino creature only squeaked from the top of the dune, refusing to stop until Hunk began to climb. Hunk crawled up the dune, painfully and breathing heavy. His little companion cheered him on in a sense as he stood at the top, growing more excited as Hunk neared. Finally, Hunk reached the top of the dune, the little friend by his side as he lay over the rim, and Hunk couldn't contain the gasp which came at seeing what lay beyond the dune.

The huge dune Hunk had climbed was apart of a huge circle, and down below in the valley it made, was an oasis. Green palm trees (or trees which resembled earth's palm trees), provided shade and shelter from the sun, in the near center of the oasis, was a large pool of clear liquid: water. Hunk's heart gave a great leap, and he scrambled to get up and move down the other side of the dune to get to the shade and water. His feet got rather caught behind in the sand though while his body fumbled forward, and so Hunk ended up tumbling down the dune in a cloud of dust. The little two legged creature watched him from up top the dune, as if slightly confused (and inwardly amused) at the way Hunk was descending down to the bottom. Hunk ended up sliding a little on the level ground of the valley at the end of his tumble, laying there a minute to regain his dazed brain. The dino beast's wide feet enabled it to slide with surprising balance down the dune, and it slid to a stop right in front of Hunk's face.

"Show off." Hunk mumbled, pushing himself up and dusting the sand off himself.

As Hunk recovered from his tumble, the little show off went forward to the pool of water to drink. Hunk soon joined him eagerly, filling his empty water bottle and drinking. The water was cool, and tasted good after a long, hard walk. Hunk looked over to the little dinosaur creature with a fond smile.

"You were leading me here this whole time." He realized in amazement, the little creature seeming to take no notice of his words as it drank. "Thanks little guy."

Hunk then thought for a minute.

"I think you need a name." He commented as the creature sat contently next to him. "Are you a boy or girl?"

The beast remained inattentive to Hunk, and so the paladin awkwardly peaked at its undercarriage. It was a boy, so that was a start. Hunk began to think of all the names that could go with the beast's appearance. None of the ones he came up with though fit it completely. The little creature reminded him vaguely of a character in his favorite childhood TV show (which involved dinosaurs). He wondered if the name would fit.

"What about, Ty?" Hunk asked aloud.

The little beast was panting beside him now, reminding Hunk fondly of a dog. Unrelated to that though, the name seemed to fit.

"I think it fits you pretty well, little guy." Hunk complimented, having the urge to pet the little thing like a dog.

Hunk's touch didn't affect the creature all that much, and it seemed to like it. Hunk pet Ty along his back, rubbing his head gently as Ty remained seated next to him. Hunk soon sat back on his hands and relaxed in the shade of the tree, dusk slowly falling. He looked around the paradise oasis with interest. Other than the trees, there wasn't really anything else in the area besides the pool of water. It was a nice little spot though. Hunk could probably camp here for the night and however long he needed if he wanted (which he did). Maybe his situation wasn't completely hopeless.

Hunk's attention was brought back to Ty as the little creature stood up and began to wander around the edge of the pond. Hunk watched with interest as he walked around to the side of the pond, then to the back all the way across from him, walking further in that direction. Hunk looked harder to the distance to try and see where Ty was going, and he was surprised to see something far back near the dune on the other side of the pond. Curious, Hunk got up and investigated.

He walked around the pond and was soon going in the direction Ty had gone off. He could still see the creature's little form as he headed further back towards the dune, and towards the cave mouth dug into the dune. As Hunk drew closer, he was amazed that this cave held its shape since sand surrounded it. Ty was walking inside the cave, squeaking into the darkness as he did. Hunk stood at the cave entrance a minute, looking warily inside from outside. Looking closely at the walls and roof of the cave, Hunk noticed that the cave kept its form because of the rock hard walls which kept the sand from collapsing in. The cave's very existence was mind blowing, and it made Hunk wonder if they were common on this planet.

Hunk's thoughts about the cave were interrupted when he heard another squeak from further in the cave, and it wasn't made by Ty. Looking past Ty and further in, Hunk suddenly caught sight of two little figures in the darkness. They both peered at him from the darkness, but Hunk saw them enough to figure out that they were exactly the same creature as Ty. Both had tanned, yellow skin, with the horns in the same places and two legs. Their bodies were all identical, and if there were any differences, Hunk couldn't spot them in the darkness. Ty squeaked to the little creatures, who looked shyly at Hunk from where they stood, and soon Ty came forward to greet them. Their tails all began to wag at seeing each other, and they two of them even began to wrestle (Ty being one of them). The other stayed out of the rough housing, but cautiously began to venture towards Hunk. Hunk smiled to the little thing and knelt down to make himself look less towering. The little creature came to him very shyly, sniffing and looking at him with, green eyes. So there was a difference. Ty had blue eyes, and this little one had green. At taking a closer look, Hunk also noticed that there was a slight difference between this one's stripes, and Ty's. Ty had thicker stripes, while this green eyed one had more thin stripes: they were the same color though.

Hunk smiled, and at seeing how casually Ty and the other one of his kind were rolling on the floor and how alike they all were, he assumed that these little creatures were all siblings. Hunk let the green eyed one sniff him for a minute, realizing that it was taking particular interest in his gauntlets, and every other part of his armor which was colored the bright yellow. Hunk found this curious since Ty had done the same thing. The green eyed one didn't bite his gauntlet like Ty had, but it did lick it, cocking its head as if confused. Hunk reached to pet it, and while it shrank slightly at his hand, his gentle touch smoothed its fear of it. The creature made an almost pur kind of noise, enjoying his touch it seemed and growing less fearful. Its sibling now came next to it, and Hunk knew it wasn't Ty because of the bright, amber eyes. Other than the eyes, this one was no different than Ty.

This sibling came and at seeing how its green eyed sibling was enjoying something, it wanted it as well, near demanding Hunk's attention. Hunk chuckled a little and pet the amber eyed sibling, slowly peeking at its undercarriage as well as the other one's. The one with amber eyes was a girl, and the one with the green eyes was a boy. Hunk soon had to give them all names now to tell and call them apart.

"You look like your name could be Amber." Hunk commented to the only girl sibling, and she soon decided that his touch wasn't as nice to her as her sibling made it seem, and went back to playing with her brother.

Hunk now looked to the green eyed little sibling, who had shied away from his sister a moment and now came back to him. Hunk found himself searching hard for a good name for the little one.

"You're a tough one," Hunk admitted, still thinking for a minute. "What about, Lux?"

While the little creature continued to enjoy his touch, Hunk found the name to catch somehow.

"Ty, Amber and Lux," Hunk remarked aloud as he looked around at the three siblings, "why are you guys all alone out here?"

Amber and Ty continued to wrestle on the floor of the cave, seeming to have an abundance of energy which never depleted. Lux was now near curling up against Hunk, growing very attached to his softer ways compared to his siblings. Hunk could feel himself growing attached to the little creatures. He suddenly noticed though the growing nip in the air as the sun was no doubt setting outside the valley of paradise. It would probably be good to get some sleep, and seeing the little dinos all do the contagious act of yawning, Hunk himself was doing the same. It had been a long day of travel for him, and despite the growing cold, sleep would be a warm welcome.

"You guys don't mind if I crash with you tonight, right?" Hunk yawned to his little new friends.

Ty and Amber's playful rough-housing was dying down now as the game was getting old. They had nearly completely quieted and were coming back to Lux and Hunk, Amber making a playful nip to Lux, who actually returned one and retreated before his sister could get back at him (he was pretty fast and nimble). Hunk chuckled at them all, but he then jumped when he heard a sudden and distant shrieking kind of noise which pierced through the air of the growing dawn. It was obviously a creature of some kind, and it didn't sound all that friendly or happy.

At hearing the cry, Lux, Amber and Ty all looked out to the growing night outside the cave in sudden fear, and they all soon retreated together back further into the cave. As Hunk watched them, they all huddled together, shaking in obvious fear of the creature who was outside. Hunk himself was put well on edge by the cry of the creature, and even found himself sheepishly retreating back further into the cave with the little ones so he wouldn't be alone. He looked down at their shaking figures.

"Hey, it's alright." Hunk tried to encourage, both them and himself. "It sounds like it's a long ways off, whatever it is. If it does come near us, I'll protect you guys."

As if somehow understanding his words, the triplet siblings inched closer to Hunk's larger form, and he could feel their little bodies trembling against his own. He put a protective arm around all of them, keeping them close, trying to comfort them in his embrace. It began to work as the cries of the creature outside grew more faint and sounded less frequently. Hunk did find sleep to come a little more difficult after hearing that noise, his mind making up terrible images of what that creature could be. He soon had to take comfort from the little bodies beside him as they had soon fallen asleep in his embrace. He kept a watchful eye on what he could see outside the cave, but as the long hours dragged on, Hunk did find himself drifting off into sleep.

He had a terrible nightmare that night: a nightmare that some large creature had quietly come to the cave mouth, slowly came inside, then grabbed hold of his foot in its teeth, dragging him out of the cave and away from the little ones he had sworn to protect. It was upon this nightmare that Hunk jerked awake, looking around frantically. He was lying on his back, probably having slumped over during his sleep, and it was because of how he woke up that Hunk suddenly knew it wasn't a dream. His feet were directed towards the mouth of the cave, like how they had been the night before. Hunk relaxed a little, feeling the warm bodies on his side and at his feet. Actually, Hunk felt a constant warmth at his side. The warmth at his toes was on and off, like a warm breeze kept going into the cave, making soft, barely audible huffing noises with each breeze.

At hearing a deep, gurgling growl come from the cave entrance, Hunk froze. That wasn't a breeze. That was breath. Hunk barely had enough time to lift his head and look down near his boots before he felt something clamp onto both of his feet. Before he knew it, he was being dragged across the ground on his back and clear out of the cave, soon to be tossed through the morning air and landing on the edge of the pond with a heavy thud and tumble. As Hunk frantically tried to stop himself from rolling and soon rose to get up off his back, he felt like he was in some kind of Jurassic World movie as the creature whom had pulled him out of the cave was the biggest, and more matured version of Amber, Ty, or Lux. The ten foot tall, Tyrannosaurus Rex like creature glared at him with cold, silver eyes, opening its mouth as it began to charge straight for Hunk with a blood chilling roar.

**Hello again everyone! It's me Scarlett Whitecross, under a new name due to a change of heart. No longer VenusDemilo-Shirolover2 but still a fan of all things fanfiction. Including this one! We're still working through it obviously and will try harder to do better with posting. Myself and MelodyBryte(formerly known as FlickaLightBeast) have a new plan for how we will post and hopefully we'll be able to stick to it. But again, I can't say for certain. Enjoy this new chapter, and I'll see you guys next time! Thx!**


	7. Iron Wood

Chapter Six

Iron Wood

It was difficult to tell whether or not the lantern offered more than just the teasing thought of warmth. There was no shelter from the bitter cold, and the lantern barely did anything to light the way. The white snow of the blizzard only allowed a few feet ahead to be seen.

"Snow. It had to be snow!" Lance grumbled as he shuffled on through the knee high, frozen flakes in the millions beneath him. "I couldn't have landed on some tropical planet with sand and warmth and palm trees?!"

The thought of that shot Lance back to Earth, slowing him as he briefly daydreamed of his home. The cold breeze that bashed against him reminded him harshly that he was far from it, forcing Lance to resume walking at his normal pace. He had a mission, and that was to find his teammates, wherever they were in this wasteland. Lance decided to try the communicator again.

"Guys-" he was cut off when the wind screamed and bashed against him again, making him fight to maintain balance, "guys, it's Lance. Does anyone hear me? Hunk?.. Shiro? Anybody?!"

Constant static from the storm answered, as it had the last few times. Lance continued on through the cold, dragging each step through the snow. As he walked on, he occasionally looked up and around to see if he could spot anything through the blizzard, but each time he did his eyes couldn't penetrate the wall of wind and ice. As he trudged along, his repeated effort of trying the com diminished upon every reply only being the same static, dousing his hope that there was anyone else out here besides him. If that was the case, he should have stayed back at his lion to wait for rescue, but there was no way for him to know if one of the others had landed a few miles away. With luck, Lance would either find his way back to his lion, or find one of his teammates.

Lance pressed on without much change, walking blind through the whirling winds. After a few minutes of traveling, Lance suddenly began to realize that the wind was steadily, but slowly, calming. The raging howl of the wind was starting to die down, visibility improving as it did. As the storm seemed to be passing, Lance was able to take in more and more of his surroundings, from what little variation there was of them. Looking around, he saw but only snowy ground as blank as a white page yards around him. Looking forward however, he suddenly noticed the area only a mile or two up ahead. Lance stopped short upon seeing tall structures rising from the ground. Their tops were rather full, looking like trees. Together in their numbers, they made the wide edge of a forest.

The forest came to Lance as an odd sight, mainly because he hadn't expected this terrain to have one. Despite his slight bewilderment of the wood, Lance approached the forest, hoping the large trees could offer some shelter if another storm blew in. He walked on toward the forest, the wind still dying down and much of the land still obscured, but clearing. The forest rose as he neared its border, until finally the trees towered twenty or so feet above him. The forest line stretched for miles to his left and right, and as Lance stepped in, he felt something rather odd. It was more of a sensation than a feeling; the sensation of stepping into a room that was not one's own. Lance pressed past the sensation however, his mind soon preoccupied by the trees themselves.

As he came to stand at the foot of a tree, Lance marveled at the massive size. Not even Hunk could have wrapped his arms around over half of the thick trunk, and looking at the trunk closely, Lance noticed something strange about the very dark colored bark looked like wood, but as Lance felt it with his fingertips, the bark felt sharp in some parts, even through his gloved hands. His helmet began conveniently analyzing the elements of the trunk for him as he looked at it. The elements of the tree were listed on a pie chart, and Lance skimmed through it, trying to read it aloud.

"Uh, twenty percent of..something. Three percent of.. I can't read that…." Lance squinted at the strange, alien words he didn't really care enough to try and sound out. "More alien stuff…. Where's Pidge when you need her?! Four percent of something else and…. One percent of iron? But that's a metal. Metal doesn't grow…. Does it?" Lance soon groaned, waving the pie chart away. "I'm just gonna say that these trees are made out of iron, since Pidge isn't here to correct me."

Looking around and losing interest with whatever made the trees, Lance saw the other trees were the same color and most likely the same species. Lance also noticed something rather strange. The snow on the forest floor was spotless white. There was not a single dead or fallen branch, or even undergrowth to mark the pure white of the ground. Looking up, lhe could see branches at the tops of the trees, but they didn't sway to a breeze, or have any leaves. Lance wondered what was so different about this planet which made structures like these grow. Could the metal be living? Knowing he was no scientist like Pidge or even Hunk, Lance had to shrug off the lack of answers as he trudged on through the snow, leaving the trees to their own business.

He walked through the iron wood, growing used to the unusual trees as he walked past more and more of them. Almost every tree was the same. While they varied in placement, each was just as tall and wide as the next, and not a single branch lay on the floor of the forest even as he walked deeper. If anything, the trees became more apparent, and soon enough they became an old sight as Lance walked on with no change of his surroundings. Sighing in boredom, Lance decided to once again try the coms.

"This is Lance, does anyone-" an ear piercing, high ringing sound grew to scream in Lance's ears, like a microphone getting too close to a speaker.

The sound only got louder and louder, continuing in a frequency worse than nails on a chalkboard. It grew unbearably painful even, digging into Lance's eardrums and piercing them almost like terrible knives. With a grunt, Lance dropped the lantern in his hand and tore off his helmet, throwing it to the ground in a panic to rid himself of the noise. It landed in the snow harmlessly, but all Lance could hear was the after effect of the ringing which remained in remnants in his ears. With his head free of the helmet, with what little insulation it had kept while on now gone, the cold atmosphere piled up around his head as if it meant to turn him to ice. Lance shivered upon feeling the chill claw his cheeks, ears and neck. As his hearing steadily returned, Lance suddenly realized how silent this forest truly was.

It was a still silence among the iron trees, and not even a breeze seemed to pass through them. It was a kind of silence which Lance had never experienced before, but he knew for sure that it wasn't a peaceful type. This silence loomed far too ominous to be peaceful. It was heavy almost, and surrounded Lance like the trees. He was bewildered that he hadn't noticed the silence until now. Knowing he had to press forward however, Lance sighed, his breathing coming in a puff of white fog, then he bent to retrieve his helmet. He paused quite suddenly, noticing something which somehow stuck out to him.

His helmet had made a small track in the snow from where it had rolled after he tossed it off. While not large, the track certainly wasn't invisible, until now. The track was no longer there, and there was no trace of it having ever existed. Lance's brow furrowed. Had the helmet really rolled through the snow or had his mind simply thought it had? Lance lifted his helmet from the snow, eyeing the print left behind carefully. After a second or two of the print remaining, Lance began to wonder if he was going snow crazy and made a move to head onward, until he suddenly saw movement from the print. With nothing around to cause it, the print in the snow began to fill gently but quickly with more snow, topping off to level with the snow around it in seconds. Lance froze, his eyes widening in sudden uneasiness.

"Okay, that's, not normal." he said aloud in stressed tones.

Looking to the lantern, Lance retrieved it from the ground and watched the print left behind, waiting. After a moment, the print filled itself, blending completely with the level of snow around it. It was a repeating thing, and at realizing that, something went off in Lance's head. Suddenly feeling a very strange sense of dread creeping in, Lance's gaze looked back to where he had been coming from. His alarm spiked as he examined the ground behind where his footprints should have been. The snow was blank: not a single trace of his trail was visible.

"Okay," Lance spoke aloud to the snow in a slightly high, nervous tone, "that's not creepy at all."

The thought of being unable to follow his own tracks made him all the more uneasy. If this forest was more than what it seemed, should he risk staying in it longer? If another storm blew in, at least the trees could somewhat act as protection or shelter. Looking up and around, Lance suddenly found the trees to loom over him with long, boney fingers disguised as branches; poised to strike. He felt as if unfriendly eyes had settled their sights on him, watching in stocking silence. Every scary story, movie and video game Lance had ever known back on Earth concerning creepy forests began to pop into his head, making him shudder and fight to combat those fears with logic. Realizing the ringing in his helmet had died down, Lance put it back on, shaking out what snow had made it inside first so as to not further give his head a brain freeze.

Set on edge, he decided to trek onward, though his sharp eyes now looked around through the trees in wary alert: ready for anything which might or might not jump out to attack him. Lance traveled for many hours it felt like, his thoughts given plenty of time to stray. He found a way to attach the lamp to his hip, and so could warm himself with both hands. After that strange noise which had nearly made him deaf, Lance became unfond of the idea of trying the coms again. As he walked on through the forest, thirst and fatigue began to prod at him. He hadn't had the room to really bring anything with him, though now Lance wondered if there had been some kind of backpack stored in the survival supplies. He sighed and shook his head. If he had stopped enough to think before traipsing through the snow, he might have taken the time to examine the supplies and gather what he needed. All Lance could do about it now though was scorn himself from within the walls of his mind and keep moving.

IXXXXXXXXI

The halls were long, dark, and cold, the atmosphere of space too vast to be kept from every corner of every room within the ship. Haggar never felt the cold. The cold was like the very robes that she wore; a layer to who she was. Silent as she was, her emperor sensed her presence as she entered the room.

"You've found Voltron?" He asked of her.

"No. Wherever they went, it is beyond even my reach." Haggar answered, standing in her place a little behind her emperor's turned back. "However, the weapon was successful in affecting their ship, and the virus is now awake. Their leader will not survive for long, and the Black Lion will be yours soon enough."

"Good." there was a pleased tone in the most often one-note characteristic of Zarkon's voice. "In the meantime, find where they escaped, and have our fleets continue searching for them. I will not let them slip from my grasp again."

"Yes, my lord." Haggar replied with a light bow. With that, she turned, and walked out of the room. While she could not see through her creation, she could feel it. It was awake, and following the commands she had given it during its creation. It would tear at its victim until he succumbed to its power, and inch by painful inch, it would get there.

IXXXXXXXXI

Night came faster than Lance could have ever thought possible, and almost immediately, the temperature dropped as well. The iron trees did nothing to warm him, and in fact, Lance was pretty sure every ounce of the cold was being bounced off their surfaces and straight back to him, or at least, that's how it felt. While he had his gauntlet's flashlight, Lance was still very thankful for the warm color and light from the lamp. His body shook from the cold, and Lance wondered how he could escape from it. The fact that his footprints were being erased as he pressed on was something he had not grown used to, but he was a little more at ease with it since nothing bad had happened yet because of it. Lance avoided looking up towards the sky however, finding the looming branches above him eerie as bits and pieces of their figures were barely illuminated, causing Lance's eyes to see things which weren't there, or what he hoped wasn't there. He kept his eyes either down or forward as he walked, until a sudden noise made him stop in his tracks.

A loud, blood chilling cry sounded from far up ahead; a shrill, inhuman cry which set him on edge. At hearing the cry, Lance saw a warm, orangish yellow light glow to life somewhere in the forest ahead of him. In instinct and fear, Lance drew his bayard blaster and made himself ready to defend himself, aiming the blaster nosil towards the light. The cry continued, but as Lance was forced to listen, he found that either this creature had a naturally horrible shriek, or it was in some kind of pain or agony. Lance stared at the light, unable to see the source, but his fear only escalated when he barely saw strange shadows against the trees frantically dance about, seemingly in sync with the shrieking.

Lance didn't have long to imagine what could make such noise and wild movements, because suddenly, right before Lance's eyes, a huge mound of snow began to stir and pile up. At first it was a churning mound of snow, then it began rising slowly to become a thick pillar. Parts of the snow separated, elongated and thickened to form a bulky pair of two arms at its sides, and a head with no defined neck. The creature stood at a towering eight foot above the Blue Paladin, and by the absence of facial features, it's back was most likely turned. Lance fumbled in a mad panic for his lantern, turning it off in not wishing to be seen by this creature just yet. He was relieved to see that the snow being had not seemed to notice his presence, and he couldn't help but stare at the thing in wide eyed terror and wonder, jaw gaping open. With no definite legs, Lance wondered if the thing could move at all: perhaps it was stationary, acting as some kind of ward? Seeing it suddenly begin to shuffle forward effortlessly through the snow towards the sound and light ahead enlightened Lance that the creature could in fact move. The snow beneath it seemed to become part of it for a moment, then be left behind as the creature continued onward. It seemed completely oblivious of Lance, its focus seeming very intent on the noise and light up ahead.

Knowing there was nothing else around him which could lead him to something different, Lance dared to follow the strange snowman, trekking quietly. Eventually, after the nerve racking process of dodging from tree to tree in the darkness to keep out of sight, and keeping a very careful distance, Lance finally saw what the source of the orangish light was as he peered around the trunk of a tree. A beach ball sized, glowing sphere sat in snow, illuminating the area around it. While Lance could barely feel the warmth even from where he was behind the tree, the snow did not melt upon coming closer to the sphere, which was actually sitting on a supportive structure to keep it from rolling. The huge snow creature stopped upon reaching the sphere. It's head turned left and right, examining the area. It was then that Lance suddenly noticed dents and prints in the snow, the marks of a trail left behind.

Lance's jaw dropped. Why did these tracks not disappear like his?! Lance noticed they were very strange looking tracks as well, footprints which he had never seen before scattered wildly around and almost away from the sphere. The snow giant stood still for a moment, then its structure collapsed to a lifeless mound of snow. Lance's brow furrowed, and he couldn't be sure if the creature was really gone, or had simply went into some kind of rest mode as the mound of snow did not blend and fully settle into the snow around it.

After a minute, feeling the teasing warmth radiating off the sphere finally pulled Lance from hiding. Lance quickly came to the sphere and disarming his bayard, he warmed himself in its light. Lance couldn't help but eye the remaining tracks suspiciously though as he warmed his stiff limbs. The feet of whatever creature had made the tracks were rather long, and surprisingly thin. He noticed how there was only one set of the same kind, making him wonder if the creature was bipedal: he also noted the small marks of claws at the end of the four toes of each foot. The wood was silent, as Lance had grown somewhat used to by now, but then he suddenly heard the snow behind him shifting with muffled movements. Glancing back, Lance saw in a sudden strike of panic that the lifeless mound of snow was now piling up and beginning to form the snow beast once again. It was towering fast over him, and Lance dashed as quickly as his stiff legs allowed. The lantern at his side was bashed violently against his thigh, but it stayed there to Lance's relief as he ran for cover.

Lance ducked behind a tree just in time before the snow creature was at its full height, daring to peek out to see what had caused its return. He saw in horror that his footprints were still there, and that they could very well lead the creature right to Lance's hiding place. Lance almost began willing the prints to fade as he glared at them from behind the tree.

"Come on… come on." He breathed in the quietest of tones.

To his life saving relief, the prints did fade after a second or two, but Lance's attention was suddenly pulled away from them and back to the snow being in sudden unnerved awe. From his position behind the tree, he could easily see the back, and one full shoulder of the snowman's right side. As he watched, something, or someone, stepped out of the depths of the snowman's torso. It was a slim, tall figure, only an inch or two shorter than the snow creature. Whatever it was, Lance could see a slim, jagged array of thorn like horns protruding from the figure's slim head: twisting and shaped almost like tree branches and twigs. He barely saw the hint of long, thin and possibly white hair falling down the figures head. Its head in general was long and slim, the frame of its body looking frail compared to the great bulk of the snowman. The arms, while covered with some protection against the cold, looked thin and long, and the legs of the figure were not at all easily defined, but only because of the long and sleek dress it wore. The figure, very much a humanoid in many respects, carried a long staff in its right hand, not seeming to need it much for support however.

Lance froze in pure terror, the look of this figure somehow fear inducing given also that the dark lighting didn't give away many of the features. The figure stepped completely out of the snowman's torso, and stood still, observing the area and tracks on the ground. After a moment, the humanoid gently raised the staff, then beat it once against the ground. Instantly, a strange echo vibrated through the entire forest at the staff's beat, and Lance felt the iron wood of the tree beneath his hand vibrate. He drew his hand quickly away, then watched in sudden awe as the tracks in the snow began to finally fill themselves.

The humanoid, whom Lance began to wonder had some kind of magic or control over this forest, watched the tracks disappear. Its head then suddenly turned ever so slightly, as if catching onto something. The face of the figure turned quickly to look right in Lance's direction. Lance had luckily gotten a feeling something like that was going to happen after the small head turn, and so he had ducked behind the tree just in time. His hand was clasped over his mouth to keep any peep he might make inaudible. He fought to keep his own breathing under control, his eyes watching to his left where he half expected the creature to jumpscare him. What Lance saw instead wasn't any less or more frightening.

The top of the humanoid's staff carefully but calmly came around to the side of the tree to Lance's left. It tapped the tree twice, almost as if knocking, and Lance felt the iron wood tremble at his back. He made no move, holding his breath. The staff was smooth, and almost elegant. In the dim lighting, Lance almost wondered of it was made from the trees around him. After a moment that felt like minutes, the staff retreated, slow and calm as it had come. There was another echo through the forest as the staff must have been tapped on the ground once more, then Lance heard the muffled sound of snow shifting, then crumbling to fall silent.

It took several minutes for Lance to realize that the two strangers were gone, and after he dared to peek around the tree, he saw no one there. Lance let his breath escape him as he slumped down in the snow with his back against the tree, feeling his heart batter against the walls of his chest. He then paused, his brain registering that while he hadn't seen anyone, he had seen something. Lance looked around the tree again to see something lying on the ground in front of the sphere, which was still glowing. Lance inched closer, summoning his bayard for comfort. The thing on the ground looked to be a rolled up mat of some kind. Lance unrolled the unsecured mat with his toe, and it harmlessly unravelled on the snow. It was wide and long enough for someone to use as a sleeping mat, though Lance wasn't really sure how he felt about it.

He tested the mat with his foot again, and after nothing happened, he stood with both feet on it and very carefully sat down. Feeling this soft and not wet mattress beneath him and the fire like warmth coming from the sphere made Lance slowly relax, disarming his bayard. Upon sitting somewhere more or less warm and comfortable, Lance discovered how exhausted he really was. His eyelids were heavy, and his tense body swayed from side to side, forward and back in dire need of rest. Lance forced himself to wait a little bit before giving in and laying down. Using his arm as stand in for a pillow. Kept warm and comfortable with the glowing, warm sphere and mattress, Lance was asleep in seconds, his mind and dreams haunted however by the eerie forest in which he was forced to sleep within.

**Hey guys! Almost to where the trailer parts factor in. I've been so excited about these next coming chapters and I can't wait to hear your thoughts once you read them! Again, I apologize for the inaccurate posting, as life has been crazy on BOTH our parts lately. But anyway… Enjoy! Thx!**


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